Settlement

How to spell settlement

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce settlement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does settlement mean?

1. nounA formal agreement that resolves a dispute, claim, or legal matter.
2. nounA place or small community where people have established homes, often newly founded.
3. nounThe act of paying a debt, bill, or account in full.

Settlement in a sentence

• The two companies reached an out-of-court settlement before the trial began.

• The early settlement grew into a thriving town within fifty years.

• Prompt settlement of the invoice earns a small discount.

• Her lawyer advised her to accept the settlement rather than risk a long case.

• Archaeologists uncovered the remains of an ancient settlement near the river.

• The bank confirmed settlement of the transaction the following morning.

Where does settlement come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word is built on the verb 'settle', which comes from the Old English 'setlan', meaning to seat, to place, or to come to rest, a verb closely tied to 'setl', the Old English word for a seat or place to sit. To the native verb English later added the suffix '-ment', borrowed through French from the Latin '-mentum', which forms nouns naming an action or the result of one. 'Settlement' appears in English from the late 1600s, first in the sense of fixing something firmly in place and then branching into the meaning of an arrangement that resolves a dispute, the act of paying what is owed, and a place where people have settled to live. The spread of the senses all traces back to the same idea of bringing something to a stable, fixed state. The double 't' in the middle is the chief spelling trap, inherited directly from 'settle', and the silent 'e' is kept before '-ment'.

How the word is built

• settle (to come to rest, resolve, or establish)
• -ment (noun suffix denoting an action or its result)