settlement: Meaning and Definition of

set•tle•ment

1. the act or state of settling or the state of being settled.
2. the act of making stable or putting on a permanent basis.
3. a state of stability or permanence.
4. an arrangement or adjustment, as of business affairs or a disagreement.
5. an agreement signed after labor negotiations between union and management.
6. the terms reached in this agreement.
7. the settling of persons in a new country or place.
8. a colony, esp. in its early stages.
9. a small community, village, or group of houses in a thinly populated area.
10. a community formed and populated by members of a particular religious or ideological group: a Shaker settlement.
11. the satisfying of a claim or demand; a coming to terms.
1. final disposition of an estate or the like.
2. the settling of property, title, etc., upon a person.
3. the property so settled.
1. legal residence in a specific place.
2. (of a pauper) the right to claim food and shelter from an official agency or specific town or district.
14. Also called an establishment in an underprivileged area providing social services to local residents.
15. a subsidence or sinking of all or part of a structure.