settlers

noun

plural of settler
1
as in colonists
a person who settles in a new region settlers learning to live in peace with the natives

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2
as in immigrants
one that leaves one place to settle in another in 1889 Jane Addams, in an effort to provide Chicago's latest wave of settlers with much-needed services, founded the city's first settlement house

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of settlers As explored in my recent book, this dialect formed from linguistic variation that came in with colonial-era settlers from different places and stations. — Valerie M. Fridland, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026 Israeli police have arrested 10 suspects in the occupied West Bank following attacks by Jewish settlers over the weekend in which a US journalist and European diplomats were among those injured. — Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 20 Oct. 2026 On Saturday, French, Belgian and Polish diplomats as well as a French mayor were attacked by masked settlers in another part of the West Bank. — Reuters, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026 A day later, masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats and others visiting the Christian village of Taybeh. — Koral Saeed, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026 His outgoing government is dominated by West Bank settlers and their supporters. — Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2026 Since this government came in, in 2022, and certainly since October 7, 2023, the settlers have been emboldened. — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for settlers
  1. colonists
  2. immigrants
  3. pioneers
  4. migrants
  5. emigrants
  6. refugees
Noun
  • The original model for the kind of adversarial speech the First Amendment aims to protect, McGrane said, was the speech American colonists used against the British.
    — Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The animals reached Spain during the Roman Empire and were later brought to what is now Mexico by Spanish colonists in the 1500s.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of colonists
Noun
  • Most of the immigrants charged in California have lived in the country for at least five years, and some of them for decades.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Eisenkot, 66, a son of Moroccan immigrants who became Israel’s top general, grew up in Tiberias and Eilat, outside the country’s centers of political power.
    — Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of immigrants
Noun
  • From honoring industry pioneers with the Latin Music Legacy Award to bringing Tito Nieves and Luis Figueroa together to discuss the evolution of salsa, AARP was part of the conversations where culture, community and generations connect.
    — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 23 Oct. 2026
  • But beyond icon status, Moncler praises its three leading ladies as pioneers.
    — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of pioneers
Noun
  • Many of the migrants were already in the process of getting a visa.
    — October 26, NPR, 26 Oct. 2026
  • The exercise has already disproportionately disenfranchised the poor, migrants, religious minorities, women—and is bound to continue doing so.
    — Asim Ali, Time, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of migrants
Noun
  • Baksheng leaves behind a family and then creates a new one with other Teochew emigrants at an inn run by a feminist daughter, Zia Lamgi (Li Sitong) who dodges a revolving door of suitors.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The decision could have broad implications for descendants of Italian emigrants, particularly in North and South America, where large Italian diaspora communities have ancestral ties to Italy.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 July 2026
Definition of emigrants
Noun
  • Public sentiment toward refugees and migrants has also hardened elsewhere, creating a crisis for nonprofit aid groups.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The dire economic conditions resulted in one in four Venezuelans, nearly 8 million people, fleeing the country as refugees, creating a massive migration crisis across the Americas.
    — Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of refugees

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Cite this Entry

“Settlers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/settlers. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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