settlement Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun 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
    colony.
    • the American colony in Paris
  2. noun a community of people smaller than a town
    small town; village.
  3. noun a conclusive resolution of a matter and disposition of it
  4. noun the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies
    colonisation; colonization.
    • the British colonization of America
  5. noun something settled or resolved; the outcome of decision making
    closure; resolution.
    • they finally reached a settlement with the union
    • they never did achieve a final resolution of their differences
    • he needed to grieve before he could achieve a sense of closure
  6. noun an area where a group of families live together
  7. noun termination of a business operation by using its assets to discharge its liabilities
    liquidation.

WordNet

Set"tle*ment noun
Definitions
  1. The act of setting, or the state of being settled. Specifically: -- (a) Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
    Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth power, or settlement in the world. L'Estrange.
    (b) 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. (c) 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. (d) Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
    My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take, With settlement as good as law can make. Dryden.
    (e) (Law) 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.
  2. That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed. Specifically: -- (a) Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs. Obs.
    Fuller's earth left a thick settlement. Mortimer.
    (b) A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled; as, settlement in the West. (c) 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.
  3. (Arch.) (a) 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. (b) pl. Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
  4. (Law) 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. Blackstone. Bouvier. Blackstone.

Webster 1913