1. territories under the political control of another country, typically distant from it
2. groups of people who settle in a new territory but remain subject to their parent country
3. groups of animals or plants living together in the same place
Usage: biology

Examples

• The thirteen American colonies declared independence from Britain in 1776.
• European powers established colonies throughout Africa and Asia.
• The Spanish colonies in South America gained independence in the early 1800s.
• French colonies in West Africa became independent nations in the 1960s.
• Ant colonies can contain millions of individual insects.
• Scientists studied the penguin colonies in Antarctica.
• Bacterial colonies grew rapidly in the petri dish.