Definition of "colonialism"

colonialism

/kəˈləʊ.njə.lɪ.zəm/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural colonialisms
1. The policy of a country seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of economic dominance.
  Quotations
  Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.
  2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, page x
2. A colonial word, phrase, concept, or habit.
  Quotations
  Although the settlement seems so far to have made but slow progress, there are many things which show that, to use a colonialism, "the place was going ahead."
  1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 239
3. Colonial life.