Definition Definition

settlement - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'settlement' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Settlement [ n.]
- The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
- Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
- The act of peopling, or state of being peopled; act of planting, as a colony; colonization; occupation by settlers; as, the settlement of a new country.
- The act or process of adjusting or determining; composure of doubts or differences; pacification; liquidation of accounts; arrangement; adjustment; as, settlement of a controversy, of accounts, etc.
- Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
- A disposition of property for the benefit of some person or persons, usually through the medium of trustees, and for the benefit of a wife, children, or other relatives; jointure granted to a wife, or the act of granting it.
- That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
- Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs.
- A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled; as, settlement in the West.
- That which is bestowed formally and permanently; the sum secured to a person; especially, a jointure made to a woman at her marriage; also, in the United States, a sum of money or other property formerly granted to a pastor in additional to his salary.
- The gradual sinking of a building, whether by the yielding of the ground under the foundation, or by the compression of the joints or the material.
- Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
- A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of residence; legal residence or establishment of a person in a particular parish or town, which entitles him to maintenance if a pauper, and subjects the parish or town to his support.

Meaning of 'settlement' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . settlement [ n]
Meaning (1):
- something settled or resolved; the outcome of decision making
Example in sentence:
  • he needed to grieve before he could achieve a sense of closure;
  • they finally reached a settlement with the union;
  • they never did achieve a final resolution of their differences
Meaning (2):
- a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government
Example in sentence:
  • the American colony in Paris
Meaning (3):
- the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies
Example in sentence:
  • the British colonization of America