noun
- Plural of colonus; in ancient Rome, tenant farmers or agricultural laborers bound to the land they worked.
Usage: historical; Latin term used in English historical and academic contexts
Examples
- The coloni of the Roman Empire were required to remain on their assigned estates.
- Historians study the lives of coloni to understand rural Roman society.
- The status of coloni represented an intermediate position between free citizens and slaves.
- Many coloni were descendants of conquered peoples incorporated into the Roman system.