Settlement1. (n.) The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
2. (n.) Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
3. (n.) 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.
4. (n.) 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.
5. (n.) Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
6. (n.) 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.
7. (n.) That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
8. (n.) Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs.
9. (n.) A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled; as, settlement in the West.
10. (n.) 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.
11. (n.) 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.
12. (n.) Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
13. (n.) 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.
Thesaurus Entries
abalienation, abatement of differences, absolute indication, absolute interest, accommodation, acquitment, acquittal, acquittance, adjustment, affirmation, agreement, alienation, ally, amortization, amortizement, anchorage, appanage, arbitration, archduchy, archdukedom, arrangement, ashram, assignation, assignment, bargain, bargain and sale, barter, benefit, bequeathal, binder, body, body politic, buffer state, burden of proof, camp, captive nation, cash, cash payment, caste, cession, chieftaincy, chieftainry, choice, city-state, claim, clan, class, clearance, clearing, closing, colonization, colony, common, commonweal, commonwealth, commune, community, composition, composition of differences, compromise, concession, conclusion, conclusive evidence, conferment, conferral, confirmation, consignation, consignment, contingent interest, conveyance, conveyancing, cop-out, country, county, damning evidence, deal, debt service, deciding, decision, deeding, defrayal, defrayment, deliverance, delivery, demise, demonstration, deposit, desertion of principle, determination, disbursal, discharge, disposal, disposition, doling out, domain, dominion, dot, dower, down payment, dowry, duchy, dukedom, earldom, earnest, earnest money, easement, economic class, elimination, empeoplement, empery, empire, encampment, endogamous group, endowment, enfeoffment, equitable interest, equity, establishment, estate, evasion of responsibility, exchange, extended family, family, fixation, foundation, free city, gens, give-and-take, giving, giving way, grand duchy, hamlet, hire purchase, hire purchase plan, holding, inauguration, incontrovertible evidence, indisputable evidence, inhabitancy, inhabitation, inhabiting, initiation, installation, installment, installment plan, interest, interest payment, investiture, investment, ironclad proof, jointure, kingdom, kinship group, land, lease and release, legal jointure, limitation, liquidation, lodgment, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, marriage portion, moiety, monthly payments, mooring, mutual concession, nation, nationality, never-never, nuclear family, occupancy, occupation, onus, onus probandi, order, outpost, part, paying, paying off, paying out, paying up, payment, payment in kind, payoff, peoplement, peopling, percentage, phratria, phratry, phyle, plantation, polis, polity, population, portion, possession, post, power, prepayment, principality, principate, proof, protectorate, province, puppet government, puppet regime, quarterly payments, quietus, quittance, rapprochement, realm, reconciliation, regular payments, remittance, republic, residence, resolution, retirement, right, right of entry, sale, satellite, satisfaction, sealing, selection, seneschalty, setting, settling, showdown, signature, signing, sinking-fund payment, social class, society, solemnization, sovereign nation, spot cash, stabilization, stake, state, strict settlement, subcaste, sultanate, superpower, sure sign, surrender, terms, territory, thirds, title, toparchia