Standard Lemma guide

villagization

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Resettlement of citizens into designated villages by governmental or military authorities, often to counter guerrilla activities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • 1955, R. W. Sorensen, Hansard, Fifth Series, Volume 542, Session 1955-56, 21 June, 1955, p. 1207, Other developments are taking place in Malaya. Naturally, villagisation is at first often resisted by those who are compelled to live in the new villages; nobody likes being torn up by the roots.
  • 2012, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir, New York: Knopf Doubleday, 2015, Chapter 13, p. 36, Villagization, the innocuous name the colonial state gave to the forced internal displacement, was sprung on the Kenyan people in 1955, [...] but living within the walls of the school, I had not heard about the agents of the state bulldozing people’s homes or torching them when the owners refused to participate in the demolition.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English village Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiōlbor. Old French -ationbor. Middle English -acioun English -ation English -ization English villagization From village + -ization.

Across languages

Translations

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: pakkosiirto kyliin — Translations
  • French: villagisation — Translations
  • German: Zwangsverdorfung — Translations
  • Polish: przymusowa emigracja na wieś — Translations