colonialism

noun [kəˈloʊniəˌlɪzəm]

pronunciation

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Colonialism is a system or policy in which a state founds, holds, or controls colonies beyond its own borders, usually for economic gain, strategic influence, and political advantage.

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Definitions

In political use: a policy and practice of founding overseas or dependent territories, administering them, and keeping them economically, legally and militarily tied to the metropole.

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In historical narrative: the modern wave of overseas expansion by European and other powers from the sixteenth through the twentieth century, covering conquest, settlement, extraction of resources and the subordination of local communities.

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As a critical label: a charge of domination, exploitation, and the imposition of metropolitan culture, even when a formal colony no longer exists and economic or cultural dependence continues.

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Examples

The historian described colonialism as a process in which the metropole combined trade, administration, and armed force beyond Europe.

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The textbook compared British and French colonialism and noted differences in how each power governed its colonies.

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The columnist warned against calling every international partnership colonialism, because the label then loses sharpness.

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At the panel they set colonialism against imperialism to separate settlement and colonial administration from a broader claim to hegemony.

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Usage

In everyday English colonialism can be a sharp charge of domination and exploitation. In academic and historical prose it pays to name the intended sense: a formal system of colonies, a dated historical period, or a metaphor for economic dependence after decolonization. That precision separates factual description from moral judgment. Authors also gain clarity by naming the territory, the era, and the control mechanism: settlement, trade monopoly, military administration, or cultural influence.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

The 1913 Webster already prints a dedicated lemma Colonialism in three senses: the state of being colonial, a characteristic or habit of a colony, and a system or policy of colonies in government and territorial extension. The same edition lists Colonial, Colonist, Colonization, Colonize and Colony. That English cluster also clarifies why Polish later coined the cognate kolonializm.

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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Skeat (1910) under COLONY derives English colony from Old French colonie and Latin colonia / colonus / colere, then records Der. coloni-al and also colon-ise, colonis-at-ion, colon-ist. He does not print a separate colonialism. Arct (1921) lists Polish Kolonja, Kolonizacja, Kolonizator, Kolonizować, Kolonista and towary kolonjalne; the political -izm noun itself is absent there. We cite Arct only as cognate-family evidence and paraphrase freely; we do not lift its gloss.

source

Editorial team; facts: W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910; M. Arct, Slownik wyrazow obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open source

Frequent pairings are European colonialism, British colonialism, critique of colonialism, colonial policy and effects of colonialism. A supporter or agent is a colonialist; the adjective is colonial or, less often, colonialist. News and academic writing like the contrast colonialism versus imperialism: the second term often marks a broader claim to hegemony, including control without formal colonies. How sharp that contrast becomes depends on the text at hand.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Word forms

Regular English noun, usually uncountable; the plural colonialisms is used for different strands or national versions of the policy.

word forms

przypadek	forma
singular	colonialism
plural	colonialisms

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

European colonialism

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British colonialism

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critique of colonialism

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colonial policy

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effects of colonialism

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Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms colonial rule, colonial expansion

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Antonyms decolonization, anti-colonialism

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Etymology

Colonialism is formed on colonial with the suffix -ism. The deeper stock is Latin colonia (settlement) and colonus (farmer, settler), from the verb colere (to till, to dwell). Skeat's COLONY entry traces the English noun through French to that Latin pair and then lists Der. coloni-al together with colon-ise, colonis-at-ion and colon-ist; a separate colonialism is not among those derivatives. Webster (1913) already gives Colonialism its own article (colonial condition; colonial trait or habit; colonial government and territorial extension as policy), beside Colonial, Colonist, Colonization, Colonize and Colony. Arct (1921) already prints the Polish cognates around Kolonja and kolonizacja (plus related agent and verb forms), yet still omits kolonializm as a headword.

source

W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source

also

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

also

M. Arct, Slownik wyrazow obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open source

Related words

colonialist , noun for a supporter or agent; also adjective
colonial , adjective in the same word family (Skeat, Webster)
colony , noun: the base word in the family (Skeat under COLONY)
colonize , verb: to found or settle a colony (Skeat Der. colon-ise; Webster 1913)
colonization , noun: the act or process of colonizing (Skeat Der. colonis-at-ion; Webster 1913)
imperialism , thematically related noun

Related entries

Questions and answers

What does colonialism mean?

The word names a state's policy or system of founding and holding colonies or other dependent territories beyond its own borders. In history it covers expansion, settlement and resource extraction; in critical speech it can also name lasting economic or cultural domination after formal rule ends.

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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)

Where does the word colonialism come from?

Its root is Latin colonia and colonus from colere. Skeat maps that line under COLONY, including coloni-al, colon-ise and colon-ist; Webster 1913 already prints Colonialism, Colonial, Colonize and Colony as headwords. Adding -ism picks out the political and doctrinal sense inside the same stock. Arct 1921 records the Polish cognate family around Kolonja without a lemma kolonializm.

source

W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source

How is colonialism different from imperialism?

Colonialism usually points to settlement and the running of colonies by a metropole. Imperialism reaches further: it may cover colonial rule and also informal sway through markets, credit and military pressure without annexation. Many authors mix the two labels, so the exact boundary has to be read from the surrounding argument.

source

Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)