A colony is a country which is controlled by a more powerful country.
He was born in Algeria, a former colony of France.
...the quantity of gold and silver raised in the Spanish colonies.
2. countable noun
You can refer to a place where a particular group of people lives as a particular kind of colony.
The pretty town of Cranbrook became a thriving artists' colony.
...a penal colony.
...industrial colonies.
3. plural noun [theNOUN]
The colonies means all the countries that used to be British colonies.
[British, old-fashioned]
Many of our troops and officers were scattered around the world in the service ofHis Majesty in the colonies.
4. plural noun
Thecolonies means the 13 British colonies in North America which formed the original United States.
[US]
On the eve of the Revolution, the colonies produced thirty thousand tons of crudeiron a year.
5. countable noun
A colonyof birds, insects, or animals is a group of them that live together.
The Shetlands are famed for their colonies of sea birds. [+ of]
The caterpillars feed in large colonies.
More Synonyms of colony
colony in British English
(ˈkɒlənɪ)
nounWord forms: plural-nies
1.
a body of people who settle in a country distant from their homeland but maintain ties with it
2.
the community formed by such settlers
3.
a subject territory occupied by a settlement from the ruling state
4.
a.
a community of people who form a national, racial, or cultural minority
an artists' colony
the American colony in London
b.
the area itself
5. zoology
a.
a group of the same type of animal or plant living or growing together, esp in large numbers
b.
an interconnected group of polyps of a colonial organism
6. bacteriology
a group of bacteria, fungi, etc, derived from one or a few spores, esp when grown on a culture medium
Word origin
C16: from Latin colōnia, from colere to cultivate, inhabit
colony in American English
(ˈkɑləni)
nounWord forms: pluralˈcolonies
1.
a.
a group of people who settle in a distant land but remain under the political jurisdiction of their native land
b.
the region thus settled
2.
a territory distant from the state having jurisdiction or control over it
3. [C-] [pl.]
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.
4.
a.
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
b.
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. Biology
a group of similar plants or animals living or growing together
7. Zoology
a compound organism consisting of several to many incompletely separated individuals, as in corals and hydroids
Word origin
ME colonie < L colonia < colonus, farmer < colere, to cultivate: see cult
COBUILD Collocations
colony
bee colony
breeding colony
seal colony
Examples of 'colony' in a sentence
colony
Investigators have been dispatched to the remote penal colony where he is being held.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
France keeps a garrison of more than 3,000 soldiers spread across its former colonies in the region.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The belief at the time was that they had only been in the former British colony for a few hundred years.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Beaches in the former British colony were largely abandoned yesterday and a handful of the restaurants on the main tourist strip were closed.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
As Britain embarks on its own fractious exit from a regional club, some are now looking towards the former colony for lessons.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The high court trial in the former British colony closely resembled a UK criminal court proceeding.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
There are other plants whose natural habit is to form colonies of suckers.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
They live in colonies and do not move far.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Transportation to one of the colonies was the most important of these.
Smout, T.C. & Wood, Sydney Scottish Voices 1745-1960 (1990)
Their meals included sugar and tea imported from distant colonies.
The Times Literary Supplement (2008)
Sixty years ago the colonies were in their infancy.
Eccleshall, Robert English Conservatism since the Restoration: An introduction and anthology (1990)
Most live in illegal colonies that ring the northern outskirts of the city.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Or a colony will vanish one summer and return the next.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Two are in a penal colony.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
What are to be our future relations with the British colonies across the sea?
Eccleshall, Robert English Conservatism since the Restoration: An introduction and anthology (1990)
Where there is room for it, it grows in large colonies.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
This brought peace to the American colonies.
Pressley, Michael & McCormick, Christine Advanced Educational Psychology For Educators, Researchers and Policymakers, (1995)
Entering the former British colony was always a shock to my system.
Christianity Today (2000)
The resident population on this island is 6,000 pairs of puffins and a large seal colony.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The tiles can also be found throughout Spain and its former colonies.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
We are in an unnamed country's penal colony.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
It is found mainly in waste places, and quickly forms dense colonies.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
It also alters ocean currents, which move fish stocks farther away from the colony in some years.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In the eighteenth century all the colonies maintained agents in London to present the colonial point of view before board members.
Garraty, John Arthur The American Nation: A History of the United States to 1877 (1995)
From this were established breeding colonies throughout the world, and hundreds were released in Hawaii.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Through the influence of disapproving in-laws, a husband leaves his family to take up a government post in a distant colony.
The Times Literary Supplement (2013)
In other languages
colony
British English: colony NOUN
A colony is a country which is controlled by a more powerful country.
…in France's former North African colonies.
American English: colony
Brazilian Portuguese: colônia
Chinese: 殖民地
European Spanish: colonia
French: colonie
German: Kolonie
Italian: colonia
Japanese: 植民地
Korean: 식민지
European Portuguese: colónia
Latin American Spanish: colonia
All related terms of 'colony'
bee colony
A colony of birds, insects, or animals is a group of them that live together.
Cape Colony
the name from 1652 until 1910 of the former Cape Province of South Africa
seal colony
A colony of birds, insects, or animals is a group of them that live together.
crown colony
a British colony whose administration and legislature is controlled by the Crown
leper colony
a place where people who have leprosy live in quarantine
nudist colony
a place where group of nudists live together separated from the rest of the community
penal colony
a colony used or designated as a place of punishment
royal colony
a colony ruled or administered by officials appointed by and responsible to the reigning sovereign of the parent state
breeding colony
A colony of birds, insects, or animals is a group of them that live together.
charter colony
a colony , such as Virginia or Massachusetts , created by royal charter under the control of an individual, trading company, etc, and exempt from interference by the Crown
Plymouth Colony
the Puritan colony founded by the Pilgrim Fathers in SE Massachusetts (1620)
proprietary colony
any of various colonies , granted by the Crown in the 17th century to a person or group of people with full governing rights
colony collapse disorder
a phenomenon of uncertain origin which causes large numbers of worker bees to disappear suddenly from a hive
colony-stimulating factor
any of a number of substances, secreted by the bone marrow , that cause stem cells to proliferate and differentiate , forming colonies of specific blood cells. Synthetic forms are being tested for their ability to reduce the toxic effects of chemotherapy
Chinese translation of 'colony'
colony
(ˈkɔlənɪ)
n(c)
(= country) 殖民地 (zhímíndì)
[of animals]群体(體) (qúntǐ)
(noun)
Definition
the territory occupied by such a settlement
Cyprus, a former British colony, gained independence in 1960.
Synonyms
settlement
a Muslim settlement
territory
They deny that any of their territory is under rebel control.
province
the Algarve, Portugal's southernmost province
possession
All of these countries were once French possessions.
dependency
a tiny European dependency
outpost
dominion
The Republic is a dominion of the Brazilian people.
satellite state
community
Additional synonyms
in the sense of dependency
Definition
a territory subject to a state on which it does not border
a tiny European dependency
Synonyms
province,
colony,
outpost,
dominion,
protectorate
in the sense of dominion
Definition
(formerly) a self-governing division of the British Empire
The Republic is a dominion of the Brazilian people.
Synonyms
kingdom,
territory,
province,
country,
region,
empire,
patch,
turf (slang),
realm,
domain
in the sense of possession
Definition
a territory subject to a foreign state
All of these countries were once French possessions.