colonial

comparative more colonial · superlative most colonial

1. Of or pertaining to a colony.

   Dr Konyak points to explorers, colonial officials, missionaries and photographers drawn to tattooed faces, ornaments, weapons and headhunting, while the lives behind them often receded from view.

   2026 September 25, Zoya Mateen, “From Nagaland to a path to the Oscars: Indian film brings a rarely seen world to global cinema”, in BBC News, retrieved 25 Sep 2026

2. Of or pertaining to a period when a country or territory was a colony.

   India’s half-hour zone dates back to colonial rule of India and the era when ever-faster steamships and trains were shrinking the world.

   2024 May 8, Dhruv Tikekar, “How India got stuck in its own unusual time zone”, in CNN

   1 more example

   From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

   2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 25 Nov 2020, page 52

3. Of or pertaining to the ideals of colonialism.
4. USOf or relating to the original Thirteen Colonies of the USA.
5. USOf or relating to the style of architecture prevalent at about the time of the Revolution.
6. biologyTending to form colonies (especially of cells).

plural colonials

1. A person from a country that is or was controlled by another.

   None of them are, so to speak, idle men. Many of them are emigrants, not of the soil born and bred colonials.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 192

   1 more example

   The rest of us had tea and finger sandwiches with members of the royal household, which was very elegant but hard on some of us ill-schooled colonials.

   2020 June 23, John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 150

2. USA house that is built in a style reminiscent of the period of the colonization of New England.
3. A coin or postage stamp issued by a colony.

   1 more example

   This simple soul, who possesses a talent not inferior to that of Cavino at his best, has for many years turned his hand to the not unprofitable occupation of forging rare Greek and Roman coins. As a collector and student of certain Greek colonials and a specialist in forgeries I have been familiar with Stelli's workmanship for years.

   1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados