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:
More than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada have downloaded the Muse app, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
There's little doubt all of these people want success for Celtic.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
In a judicial response of unprecedented firmness, courts have already sent 217 people, half of them first-time offenders, to prison over the events on Saturday, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Only 8% of people in a recent survey said they would trust Meta with a password, compared with 30% for Google and 23% for Apple.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
One of the first things she writes is an essay about what it means to live in a small, confined community where you interact with the same people every day of your life for years.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Yet he says neither side is lying, something that is “not confusing if you understand the trauma that native peoples are still experiencing to this day.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
"Let us keep advancing the cause of friendship between our two peoples and work together to build a better world," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
They collaborated on “what became the most significant effort to convert Native peoples in English North America”: a translation of the Bible into the Wampanoag language.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 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
Today, the presence of more than five hundred federally recognized nations is evidence of the successes Native peoples had as they fought to protect their nations, their homelands, and their families.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
"It's a huge office that was all about men and money, and we've peopled it with a kind of female anarchy, which feels really exciting," said writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz, who set up the project.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
The film is peopled by gaudy clichés in place of real human characters.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024
No less a scribe than William Shakespeare claimed that bees “teach the act of order to a peopled kingdom.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2024
"The Palace", a comedy set in a Swiss hotel peopled with a cast of grotesque characters, stars Mickey Rourke, John Cleese, Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant and Joaquim De Almeida.
From Reuters ● Sep. 2, 2023
As Dessie remembered, she heard the words and the house around her grew peopled.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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
If they’re right, “it resets the playing field of what’s possible” in terms of how archaeologists understand the peopling of the Americas, says Loren Davis, an archaeologist at Oregon State University.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 4, 2023
He collected stories and wrote his own, often basing them in a fictional town, Centralia, and peopling his tales with characters like Lunchbox, Co-op George, Martin Rosewater and Uncle Grover Bass.
From New York Times ● Oct. 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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