colonialism

noun colonialisms

1. countable, uncountable The seizure of geographical area to extract its natural resources or exploit the labor of the indigenous peoples to remotely benefit a distant country. Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.
2. colloquial, countable, derogatory, often, uncountable The subjugation of a weaker country, population, or people by a dominant country, population, or people. It was the racist, settler colonialism that created whiteness, that created blackness, half-caste, quarter-caste, octoroon, that saw mixed-race people as a third race.
3. broadly, countable, derogatory, uncountable Any form of foreign influence seen as undesirable.
4. countable, uncountable A colonial word, phrase, concept, or habit. Although the settlement seems so far to have made but slow progress, there are many things which show that, to use a colonialism, "the place was going ahead."
5. countable, uncountable Colonial life.