populate
Americanverb (used with object)
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populates,
present (3rd person singular)
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populated,
past participle, past
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populating
present participle
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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.
-
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
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to provide a population for; colonize or people
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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outpopulateverb (used with object)
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repopulateverb (used with object)
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underpopulateverb (used with object)
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superpopulatedadjective
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unpopulatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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populatesimple
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populatessimple
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have populatedperfect
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has populatedperfect
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am populatingprogressive
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are populatingprogressive
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is populatingprogressive
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have been populatingperfect progressive
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has been populatingperfect progressive
Past
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populatedsimple
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had populatedperfect
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was populatingprogressive
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were populatingprogressive
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had been populatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of populate
First recorded in 1570–80; from Medieval Latin populātus, past participle of populāre “to populate, inhabit”; see people, -ate 1
Explanation
When people live in or occupy a country, city, or town, they populate it. It doesn’t always refer to people — bugs might populate your kitchen if you leave half-eaten food out. If your family lives alone on an island, you're the only people who populate it. You can also use this verb to mean "be present in," so you might say that vampires populate your favorite books, or that animated characters populate most of the movies you watch. Populate also means "fill in" in computing: "Will you populate that spreadsheet with data?" The Latin populus, or "people," is at the root of populate.
Vocabulary lists containing populate
The Origins of Civilization, Lessons 3–5
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popul (people)
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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:
If so, the Saguaro could offer an important link between the large population of little red dots Webb sees at high redshift and the galaxies that populate the more recent universe.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
It wants to populate downtown with fun storefronts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The private sector exists somewhere out there—the source of all that money—but its customs are foreign to the weirdo revolutionaries who populate the world Ms. Barker once made her career in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
In fact, daemons of all stripes populate the series – and always in pairs.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
At the lake my father bartered with the Muslim businessmen, known as the Yao, who populate that part of the country.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
One simple Google search of the laptop populates a collection of rave reviews from people who have gotten their hands on the device before it officially becomes available on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
Ms. Doucet populates the book with sympathetic characters—the “real cement and steel of the Inter-Con”—conscientious and kind Afghans who keep the hotel going as regimes collapse, rulers change, mores alter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
Bronstein populates the movie with an offbeat set of supporting characters and her casting elevates every one of them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
“Oppenheimer” sticks almost entirely to its protagonist’s point of view yet also populates its three-hour film with an incredible array of faces, all in exquisite detail.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 19, 2023
The reason lies chiefly in the type of individual who populates our prisons.
From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Bernard Glueck
It’s not that Congress should be populated by only normies, but it’s good to have a solid bloc in the mix.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2026
So much so, in fact, that on the Wednesday night that we visited for a sold-out event, the sparsely populated lounge area was nearly silent.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026
Early on, Sakurai exploits the inherent absurdity of telling a story populated by so many ludicrous characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
In order to beat the record, venues needed to be at least 50km apart in cities populated by more than 15,000 people, with half of the cities needing to have populations of at least 100,000.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
The fact is, history is populated by humans, and humans are deeply flawed and imperfect, and no amount of spatial teleportation can correct that.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Musk had preached of populating Mars, but now his focus has turned to a closer heavenly body, our moon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
"Yes. There's a Catholic priest there who seems to be populating the whole country with redundant British and American organs."
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
This is how the scores of docuseries and podcasts populating the genre transform actual horror into digestible content.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
Suddenly, most of the major groups of animals alive today -- including vertebrates which would eventually include humans -- evolved and started populating the world's oceans.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
Still others played by wearing their glasses while walking around the real world, showing off their virtual pet tigers or populating the streets with their favorite celebrities.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
