population

American  

[pop-yuh-ley-shuhn] / ˌpɒp yəˈleɪ ʃən /

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.

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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

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

Etymology

Origin of population

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

Example Sentences

Major health and retirement programs are projected to grow faster than the economy and population growth.

From Barron's

It comes as the population has remained largely unchanged in the new year, after the federal government moved to cut back on once booming immigration.

From The Wall Street Journal

There is strong growth in payments activity and consumer lending, they write, pointing to potential for further expansion from Indonesia’s large underbanked population and a low lending penetration rate among users.

From The Wall Street Journal

Three of the burial sites were located in towns, while two were in rural areas, allowing researchers to compare possible differences between urban and countryside populations.

From Science Daily

In Florida, the growing population in general and the aging population in particular are putting particular pressure on hospitals and medical practices, and that is exacerbated by staffing shortages.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

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