colonial

UK: /kəˈləʊniəl/ US: /kəˈloʊniəl/ ,(kə lō′nē əl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

co•lo•ni•al /kəˈloʊniəl/   adj. 

1. Government of or relating to a colony or colonies:
   [before a noun] colonial expansion.
2. American History of or relating to the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America, or to their period:
   [before a noun* often: Colonial] the Colonial legislatures.

n. [countable]

3. an inhabitant of a colony:
   colonials fighting for independence.
4. Architecture a house in the Colonial style:
   a charming old Colonial.

co•lo•ni•al•ly, adv. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

co•lo•ni•al  (kə lō′nē əl), adj. 

1. Government of, concerning, or pertaining to a colony or colonies:
   the colonial policies of France.
2. Government of, concerning, or pertaining to colonialism;
   colonialistic.
3. Ecology, American History (often cap.) pertaining to the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America, or to their period.
4. [Ecol.] forming a colony.
5. Architecture, Architecture, Furniture (cap.)
   • noting or pertaining to the styles of architecture, ornament, and furnishings of the British colonies in America in the 17th and 18th centuries, mainly adapted to local materials and demands from prevailing English styles.
   • noting or pertaining to various imitations of the work of American colonial artisans.

n. 

6. Government an inhabitant of a colony.
7. Architecture a house in or imitative of the Colonial style.

• colony + -al¹ 1770–80, American.

co•lo′ni•al•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

colonial / kəˈləʊnɪəl/ adjective

1. of, characteristic of, relating to, possessing, or inhabiting a colony or colonies
2. (often capital) characteristic of or relating to the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America (1776)
3. (often capital) of or relating to the colonies of the British Empire
4. denoting, relating to, or having the style of Neoclassical architecture used in the British colonies in America in the 17th and 18th centuries
5. of or relating to the period of Australian history before Federation (1901)
6. (of animals and plants) having become established in a community in a new environment

noun

1. a native of a colony

coˈlonially adverb