noun
Etymology
Origin of settler
Explanation
A settler is a person who moves to a new place with the intention to stay there. Colonial America was built by settlers who came mainly from England. Settlers often think of themselves as being the first people to live in an area, although through history settlers moved to places already inhabited by native people. A settler's primary goal is to set up a home — claim land, build houses, and establish new towns with other settlers. The noun settler originally meant "thing that settles," though by the 1690s it was used to mean "person moving to a new country," from the Old English word setlan, "cause to place."
Vocabulary lists containing settler
The United States
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Canada - Introductory
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Canada - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The UN documented more than 1,800 settler attacks in 2025 that resulted in casualties or damage to property, in around 280 communities across the West Bank.
From BBC • May 11, 2026
But the recent surge has prompted criticism from influential rabbis, settler leaders and even military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who described the attacks as "morally and ethically unacceptable".
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
Patriotic Iranian hero Babak Khorramdin, who led a nationalist movement against Arab settler colonialists in the ninth century, hailed from the Azeri city of Ardabil.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026
The charge also came shortly before Britain, France, Germany and Italy issued a joint call for Israel to bring a halt to settler violence.
From Barron's • Nov. 27, 2025
I was a guide, a pathfinder, an original settler.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
