people
Americannoun
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peoples
plural
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persons indefinitely or collectively; persons in general.
to find it easy to talk to people; What will people think?
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persons, whether men, women, or children, considered as numerable individuals forming a group.
Twenty people volunteered to help.
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human beings, as distinguished from animals or other beings.
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the entire body of persons who constitute a community, tribe, nation, or other group by virtue of a common culture, history, religion, or the like.
the people of Australia; the Jewish people.
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the persons of any particular group, company, or number (sometimes used in combination).
the people of a parish; educated people; salespeople.
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the ordinary persons, as distinguished from those who have wealth, rank, influence, etc..
a man of the people.
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the subjects, followers, or subordinates of a ruler, leader, employer, etc..
the king and his people.
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the body of enfranchised citizens of a state.
representatives chosen by the people.
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a person's family or relatives.
My grandmother's people came from Iowa.
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(used in the possessive in Communist or left-wing countries to indicate that an institution operates under the control of or for the benefit of the people, especially under Communist leadership).
people's republic; people's army.
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animals of a specified kind.
the monkey people of the forest.
verb (used with object)
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peoples,
present (3rd person singular)
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peopled,
past participle, past
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peopling
present participle
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to furnish with people; populate.
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to supply or stock as if with people.
a meadow peopled with flowers.
noun
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persons collectively or in general
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a group of persons considered together
blind people
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the persons living in a country and sharing the same nationality
the French people
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one's family
he took her home to meet his people
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persons loyal to someone powerful
the king's people accompanied him in exile
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the mass of persons without special distinction, privileges, etc
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the body of persons in a country, esp those entitled to vote
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verb
Grammar
Is the plural persons or people? See person.
Usage
People is usually followed by a plural verb and referred to by a plural pronoun: People are always looking for a bargain. The people have made their choice. The possessive is formed regularly, with the apostrophe before the -s: people's desire for a bargain; the people's choice. When people means “the entire body of persons who constitute a community or other group by virtue of a common culture, history, etc.,” it is used as a singular, with the plural peoples : This people shares characteristics with certain inhabitants of central Asia. The aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere speak many different languages. The formation of the possessive is regular; the singular is people's and the plural is peoples '. At one time, some usage guides maintained that people could not be preceded by a number, as in Fewer than 30 people showed up. This use is now unquestionably standard in all contexts.
Synonym Usage
See race 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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peoplernoun
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outpeopleverb (used with object)
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peoplelessadjective
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underpeopledadjective
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well-peopledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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peoplesimple
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peoplessimple
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have peopledperfect
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has peopledperfect
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am peoplingprogressive
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are peoplingprogressive
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is peoplingprogressive
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have been peoplingperfect progressive
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has been peoplingperfect progressive
Past
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peopledsimple
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had peopledperfect
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was peoplingprogressive
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were peoplingprogressive
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had been peoplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of people
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English peple, from Anglo-French poeple, Old French pueple, from Latin populus; see popular
Explanation
Human beings are people. Individuals, folks, humankind — we're all people. The word people is usually a noun, as in: two or more humans. It can also mean "all the citizens," as in a political leader who understands the needs of the people. People can also be a verb meaning "to inhabit or fill with people," as in: we need to people the empty seats so that tonight's speaker isn't disappointed with a small audience.
Vocabulary lists containing people
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.
See Examples For:
I liked asking people what brought them in, hearing about their celebrations and making small talk while consulting my restaurant map and section list.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
I came of age professionally when people still primarily gathered in person or spoke by phone, all in real time, whereas Caroline grew up often staying in touch with people through the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
The researchers discovered that people with more severe cognitive decline had lower levels of a protein called NRF2 inside their oligodendrocytes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026
Pernik has said the allegations were “wholly out of character” and that his client’s flight to Saudi Arabia was prebooked, and urged people not make assumption’s about Alfozan due to his Saudi nationality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
“It doesn’t mean people set aside their feelings. Or forgive and forget.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said she had been a "pioneering defence attorney for anti-apartheid activists" who had worked to "uphold human dignity and bring hope in South Africa and to peoples globally".
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Savoonga - a village of around 800 residents, located on St Lawrence Island off Alaska's coast - is primarily inhabited by Siberian Yupik peoples.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
"I believe that only then will we be able to begin to heal and move forward -- not as adversaries, but as human beings and as peoples equal in dignity."
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
While Mr. Marquis acknowledges that the Dutch were “aggressive mercantilists with a nose for profit,” he contrasts their trade-driven but fair-minded approach toward Native American peoples with the “bellicose and imperialistic English, French, and Spanish.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
If you want to fully understand what Europeans did when they encountered the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, it helps to know what happened in Europe in the centuries before 1492.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The village was peopled with "extraordinary, eccentric, cosmopolitan people, defeated by life", some of whom would later reappear in her fiction.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025
It’s peopled by lawyers who appear to be totally oblivious to the technological world they live in.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2025
The film is peopled by gaudy clichés in place of real human characters.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024
And he peopled his novel with historical figures like Theodore Roosevelt, who was New York’s reforming police commissioner before his years in the White House.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2024
Sea Dragon Point had not always been as thinly peopled as it was now.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
But he also may have been seeking to expand the notion of the American polity, peopling the Revolutionary moment with groups typically excluded from it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
"People like me who are interested in the peopling of the Americas are very interested in knowing if those first Americans came with dogs," Lanoë added.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2024
“It really seems like a peopling of Europe after the last glacial maximum,” he said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2023
“This is fascinating work,” University of Kansas, Lawrence, paleogeneticist Jennifer Raff, who studies the early peopling of the Americas, wrote in an email.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 20, 2022
The fractious archaeological community embraced his ideas with rare unanimity; they rapidly became the standard model for the peopling of the Americas.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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