How to Use colonize in a Sentence

colonize

verb
Definition of colonizenext
Synonyms for colonizenext
  • Weeds quickly colonized the field.
  • The island had been colonized by plants and animals.
  • The area was colonized in the 18th century.
  • But the effect should only improve as oysters colonize the structure.
    — Saqib Rahim, WIRED, 11 Oct. 2024
  • In the novel, Mickey is sent on dangerous missions to colonize an ice planet.
    — Jaden Thompson, Variety, 18 Sep. 2024
  • Having been seized, attacked, colonized, and fought over, the sad remainder of such strife is the brutal Calabrian mafia.
    — Frances Mayes, National Geographic, 11 July 2019
  • Short-term apartment rental companies with a new twist on a classic concept are colonizing downtown Chicago buildings.
    — Joanne Cleaver, chicagotribune.com, 15 July 2019
  • When all one sees is colonized and colonizers, certain experiences register and others do not.
    — Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 7 Oct. 2024
  • If only people wouldn’t have to carry bubbles of home with them to colonize Mars and make manifest humanity’s destiny among the stars, or something.
    — Matt Simon, WIRED, 15 July 2019
  • The shifting of Earth’s tectonic plates gives rise to new hydrothermal vents over time, and foundational seafloor animals such as tube worms have been known to colonize these new vents in the span of a few years.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 16 Oct. 2024
  • This would help the United States maintain its influence in space and be a useful step if, and when, the prospect of colonizing Mars becomes a reality.
    — Jenny Howard, National Geographic, 5 July 2019
  • Much of the roof is gone, and weeds colonize what remains of the floor.
    — Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian, 21 Nov. 2019
  • Space agencies from around the world hope to colonize the moon one day.
    — Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 May 2020
  • Jeff Bezos seems to have run out of things to colonize here on Earth.
    — Kara Alaimo, CNN, 7 June 2021
  • The microbes that colonize cheese come from many places.
    — Ute Eberle, Discover Magazine, 27 Nov. 2022
  • In Italy, the truffles grow in select spots, colonizing near the roots of oak, beech and poplar trees.
    — Bernhard Warner, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2023
  • At the time the helmet was in use, the Roman Empire was in the early stages of colonizing Britain.
    — Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2024
  • Since the first blocks of marble were sunk in 2015—and rapidly colonized by fish and plants— the gallery has grown steadily.
    — Tristan Kennedy, WIRED, 19 Mar. 2024
  • By that year, waterwheels had colonized the edges of Big Pond in New York.
    — Marion Renault, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2019
  • And don't forget, Elon's vision is to go to Mars and colonize Mars.
    — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 24 June 2024
  • The film stars Robert Pattinson and centers on a clone that’s sent to colonize a new world.
    — Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Mar. 2023
  • The pressure pushes out colonized sap that oozes down the branches and trunk.
    — oregonlive, 27 Oct. 2019
  • This is not the first time terns have navigated to the Long Beach Harbor to colonize.
    — Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2021
  • England asks about colonizing the world for spices, only to find out salt is too much.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2024
  • Still, there's a mad scramble under way to colonize the streets.
    — Bernhard Warner, Fortune, 14 June 2021
  • The ship moved on, and Spain didn’t colonize California until the late 1700s.
    — Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2022
  • But the backdrop is a very near future where a race of aliens has colonized Earth through economic means.
    — Kaely Monahan, The Arizona Republic, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Then in the mid-1800s, the pioneers came from the East Coast with their belief in Manifest Destiny, their moral right to colonize the land.
    — Sunny Dooley, Scientific American, 8 July 2020
  • The new romantic comedy is set in the future, where the best of the best humans reside and colonize on Mars.
    — Samantha Olson, Seventeen, 30 Mar. 2022
  • SpaceX is perhaps the most ambitious: Musk wants to colonize Mars.
    — Anna Russel, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'colonize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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