population

[ pop-yuh-ley-shuhn ]

noun

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.

population

/ 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 calleduniverse statistics the entire finite or infinite aggregate of individuals or items from which samples are drawn

population

/ 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

Other Words From

• popu·lation·al adjective
• popu·lation·less adjective
• repop·u·lation noun
• subpop·u·lation noun
• super·popu·lation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of population¹

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

Example Sentences

Research by experts at Glasgow University in 2019 found footballers were three and a half times more likely to die from a neurodegenerative disease than the normal population.

From BBC

With an insidious intelligence service, routine imprisonment and torture of dissidents and iron-fist control of media and public speech, the Assads maintained a ferocious and violent control of the Syrian population.

From Los Angeles Times

It has officially had no resident population since the early 1970s when the UK evicted all the people living there so it could develop the strategic base.

From BBC

Without an outlet, the population is at risk of blinking out.

From Los Angeles Times

Long Beach is home to almost half a million Cambodian Americans — the largest population of Khmer people in the United States.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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