decolonize

verb decolonizes · decolonizing · decolonized

1. transitive To release from the status of colony; to allow a colony to become independent. A paternal government would attempt to decolonize American literature, by forbidding the re-publication of foreign works, and offering premiums to those of home production.
2. transitive To reverse the colonization of, i.e. to grant back autonomy to a group. Across Ukraine, officials are starting projects to, as they say, “decolonize” their cities. Streets and subway stops whose names evoke the history of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union are under scrutiny by a population eager to rid itself of traces of the nation that invaded in late February.