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colony Definition

colo·ny (käl′ə nē)

noun pl. -·nies

    1. a group of people who settle in a distant land but remain under the political jurisdiction of their native land
    2. the region thus settled
  2. a territory distant from the state having jurisdiction or control over it
  3. the thirteen British colonies in North America that won their independence in the Revolutionary War and became the U.S.: they were Va., N.Y., Mass., Conn., R.I., N.H., Md., N.J., N.C., S.C., Pa., Del., and Ga.
    1. a community of people of the same nationality or pursuits concentrated in a particular district or place the Hungarian colony of Cleveland, an artists' colony
    2. such a district or place
  5. Bacteriology a group of cells that are derived from a single initial cell, growing separately on a solid culture medium
  6. Biol. a group of similar plants or animals living or growing together
  7. Zool. a compound organism consisting of several to many incompletely separated individuals, as in corals and hydroids

Etymology: ME colonie < L colonia < colonus, farmer < colere, to cultivate: see cult

colony Synonyms

colony

n.

  1. A colonial area

    settlement, dependency, subject state, colonial state, dominion, offshoot, possession, political possession, mandate, province, new land, clearing, protectorate, territory, daughter country, satellite state, satellite province, community, group, group migration, hive, swarm, home in the wilderness; see also nation 1, territory 2.

  2. A colonial people or culture

    pioneers, colonists, forerunners, forefathers, antecedents, beginnings, early days; see also sense 1.

colony Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • puffin: Along the coast you will discover major breeding colonies of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, terns and cormorants - among many other species.
  • ant: A battle between a chicken and a colony of ants.
  • guillemot: You have a unique opportunity to see at close quarters a rare colony of black guillemots nesting in the harbor wall.
  • bee: I found families of mice and a colony of bees and a cool, quiet place to rest and think.
  • bat: This will the be the first time that any genetic analysis has been carried out on the Dorset colony of greater horseshoe bats.

Converse of object

  • breed: We viewed the breeding colony on Tresco from close quarters on 12th.
  • self-govern: We believe that people in self-governing Colonies will find greater security, prosperity and freedom by remaining part of the Commonwealth.
  • found: The Morning Letter: With the movement of the Embassy to a new location, you are founding a new colony.
  • nest: Here, there is a large cliff supporting an enormous nesting seabird colony.

Adjective modifier

  • penal: Children were sent to the penal colonies for seven years for stealing a rabbit!
  • Portuguese: To date the former Portuguese colony has yet to reach the finals.
  • former: The former colonies have to pay off massive debts to the Western banks, which keeps them stuck in terrible poverty.
  • bacterial: For this reason, you should only examine, and sample, bacterial colonies which are well separated from their neighbors.
  • feral: Possible timetable for the development of a feral colony!

Noun used with modifier

  • seabird: The area is also home to the only large seabird colonies on the eastern coast of Greenland.
  • leper: This is a bit like the leper colony of the ship.
  • penguin: The trip to the penguin colony was also fruitful.
  • ant: It focuses on applying ant colony behavior to search the robot's configuration space.
  • breeding: A breeding colony was established by a single pair in 1988.
  • honeybee: In the event of honeybee treatments becoming POM, there is likely to be a reduction in honeybee colonies with economical and environmental costs.
colony Quotes

We are becoming an economic colony. America isup for sale.One percent of Japan's manufacturing base is foreign-owned; 2 per cent of Germany's is; 3 per cent of France's.Ours is18 per cent and growing rapidly.

—Tsongas, Paul Efthemios

England isnot ruined becausesinewy brownmenfroma distant colony sometimes hit a ball further and oftener than our men do.

—Priestley,J(ohn) B(oynton)

The sooner the Crown Colony system is removed from thesphere of practical politicsand put underaglasscase in the South Kensington Museum, labelled 'Extinct', the better for everyone.

—Kingsley, Mary Henrietta

The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison.

—Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Canadian nationalism was systematically encouraged and exploited by American capital.Canada moved from colony to nation to colony.

—Innis, Harold Adams