Colony Meaning
/ˈkɒl.ə.ni/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA geographical area under the remote control of a country; especially to extract resources or exploit labor from that area.
nounA group of people who settle an area and maintain ties to their country of origin.
Sentence Examples
At one time Nigeria was a British colony.
The colony declared independence and became a republic.
The ants built a large colony under the old oak tree.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Each ____ established its own government and trade rules far away.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Ants live together in a highly organized ____.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁-e-ti Proto-Italic *kʷelō Latin colō Latin colōnus Latin colōniader. Middle English colane English colony From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That in every Town in the Colony, where Bread is Baken for Sale, there ſhall be Choſen one Clerk of the Market, or more, as each Town ſhall find needful, at their Annual Election of Town Officers, who ſhall duly be Engaged, to the faithful performance of ſaid Office, as other Town Officers are ;[…]"
— 1719, “An ACT, Stating the due Aſſize of Bread”, in The Charter Granted by His Majeſty, King Charles the Second, to the Colony of Rhode-Iſland, and Providence-plantations in America, John Allen, page 59:
"[…] money problems and refusal to supply them with British coins were two big reasons why the thirteen colonies rebelled and declared their independence."
— 1939, Frederic Majer, Our Country's Money:
"The question of ecclesiastical jurisdiction had to be answered before the colony sailed for East Florida."
— 2006, Kenneth H. Beeson Jr., Fromajadas and Indigo: The Minorcan Colony in Florida, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN:
"In the small hours came the fetid smell of a flying-fox colony."
— 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 64:
"That weekend in 2013, fraternity members from Baruch, a commuter school in Manhattan whose Pi Delta Psi colony was only about three years old, gathered in a large rental house in Tunkhannock Township, Pa. Early on a frigid morning, Mr. Deng followed the other pledges in putting on a blindfold and backpack."
— 2018 January 7, Rick Rojas, “A Partial Win for Prosecutors Who Targeted Fraternity After Student’s Death”, in New York Times:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Each ____ established its own government and trade rules far away.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Ants live together in a highly organized ____.