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population

American  

[pop-yuh-lay-shuhn] / ˌpɒp jəˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

• populations
  plural

1. the total number of people inhabiting a country, city, or any district or area.

2. the body of inhabitants of a place.

   The population of the city opposes the addition of fluorides to the drinking water.

3. the number or body of inhabitants in a place belonging to a specific social, cultural, socioeconomic, ethnic, or racial subgroup: the working-class population.

   the Native population

   the working-class population.

4. Statistics. any finite or infinite aggregation of individuals, not necessarily animate, subject to a statistical study.

5. Ecology.

   1. the assemblage of a specific type of organism living in a given area.

   2. all the individuals of one species in a given area.

6. the act or process of populating.

   Population of the interior was hampered by dense jungles.

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population British  

/ ˌpɒpjʊˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. (sometimes functioning as plural) all the persons inhabiting a country, city, or other specified place

2. the number of such inhabitants

3. (sometimes functioning as plural) all the people of a particular race or class in a specific area

   the Chinese population of San Francisco

4. the act or process of providing a place with inhabitants; colonization

5. ecology a group of individuals of the same species inhabiting a given area

6. astronomy either of two main groups of stars classified according to age and location. Population I consists of younger metal-rich hot white stars, many occurring in galactic clusters and forming the arms of spiral galaxies. Stars of population II are older, the brightest being red giants, and are found in the centre of spiral and elliptical galaxies in globular clusters

7. Also called: universe. statistics the entire finite or infinite aggregate of individuals or items from which samples are drawn

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population Scientific  

/ pŏp′yə-lā′shən /

1. A group of individuals of the same species occupying a particular geographic area. Populations may be relatively small and closed, as on an island or in a valley, or they may be more diffuse and without a clear boundary between them and a neighboring population of the same species. For species that reproduce sexually, the members of a population interbreed either exclusively with members of their own population or, where populations intergrade, to a greater degree than with members of other populations.

2. See also deme

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• repopulation
  noun
• subpopulation
  noun
• superpopulation
  noun
• populational
  adjective
• populationless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• populations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of population

First recorded in 1570–80, population is from the Late Latin word populātiōn- (stem of populātiō ). See populate, -ion

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Explanation

Population means the number of people in a geographic area. The population of Wyoming is just shy of 600,000 people, but the population of California is nearly 40 million! This word can also be used for subgroups of people. If you plan to start an all-ages ping pong league, you'll want to determine the population of table-tennis enthusiasts in your hometown. Population can apply to groups of animals, too. Because of the worldwide decrease in the panda population, giant pandas are now an endangered species. The word population, like the word populace, derives from the Latin populus, meaning "people."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

population populations

"Menopause is something that effects 50% of the population, so we absolutely should be expecting a level of health," Williams added.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Still, he expects the foreigner population to reach 10 million in the 2040s due to labour shortage.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

About 26% of USC students are international, with 15% of the undergraduate population coming from other nations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

The state’s population has grown by almost 1 million people since I left college in 2012.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

At first the new bond market machine concerned itself with the more solvent half of the American population.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Pacific Island countries with small populations have struggled to patrol millions of kilometres of Pacific Ocean to combat illegal fishing fleets from Asia and the passage of "narco subs" deployed from South America.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Gen X and millennials make up the largest patient populations for both genders, the study found.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The Food and Drug Administration has already approved a handful of these drugs for cancers with small patient populations or with other treatment options.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

"Understanding the size of Indigenous populations in Australia before European invasion in 1788 is essential to truth-telling and reconciliation," says Professor Bradshaw.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

All those are direct ways in which plant and animal domestication led to denser human populations by yielding more food than did the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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Related Words

• community
• culture
• people
• populace
• public
• society
• state

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