colonize

verb colonizes · colonizing · colonized · colonise

1. transitive To settle (a place) with colonists, and hence make (a place) into a colony. When you are colonized by dangerous bacteria their presence in your body does no damage. You become a reservoir for those little stinkers.
2. transitive To settle among and establish control over (the indigenous people of an area). The administration finally sent a naval vessel to return the 368 survivors to the United States in 1864. This ended official efforts to colonize blacks.
3. intransitive To begin a colony or colonies.
4. broadly, transitive To intrude into and take over (the autonomy, experience, social movement, etc, of a less powerful person or group); to commandeer or appropriate. What disservice would be done if issues regarding sexualities in organisations were side-lined by a heteronormative impetus to colonise queer theory?