populate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to inhabit; live in; be the inhabitants of.
Almost 2 million people populate the immediate area of the factory and were exposed to potential carcinogens.
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to furnish with inhabitants, as by colonization; people.
In the 1700s, the British government populated the colony of New South Wales with convicts.
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Digital Technology. to fill (a digital document): She’s a fantastic photographer who has populated her blog with beautiful images.
The survey results will populate the spreadsheet as soon as they are submitted online.
She’s a fantastic photographer who has populated her blog with beautiful images.
verb
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(often passive) to live in; inhabit
-
to provide a population for; colonize or people
Other Word Forms
- outpopulate verb (used with object)
- repopulate verb (used with object)
- superpopulated adjective
- underpopulate verb (used with object)
- unpopulated adjective
Etymology
Origin of populate
First recorded in 1570–80; from Medieval Latin populātus, past participle of populāre “to populate, inhabit”; people, -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The BlackFly’s range is just 20 minutes, and you can’t fly over populated areas, so forget trying to speed through your morning commute.
The UN has previously urged countries and armed groups at war to avoid using powerful bombs in highly populated areas because of the danger to civilian lives.
From BBC
Now, seven companies in the semiconductor world populate the top-25 list.
“It’s kind of a missing link in the system, through a fairly densely populated part of the city,” Elkind said of the proposed K Line extension.
From Los Angeles Times
Amazon is building delivery hubs across sparsely populated parts of the U.S. to cut shipping times to about two days, a big improvement for rural customers used to waiting up to a week.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
