Definition of settlement

• n. - The act of setting, or the state of being settled.
• n. - Establishment in life, in business, condition, etc.; ordination or installation as pastor.
• 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.
• 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.
• n. - Bestowal, or giving possession, under legal sanction; the act of giving or conferring anything in a formal and permanent manner.
• 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.
• n. - That which settles, or is settled, established, or fixed.
• n. - Matter that subsides; settlings; sediment; lees; dregs.
• n. - A colony newly established; a place or region newly settled; as, settlement in the West.
• 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.
• 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.
• n. - Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
• 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.