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:
She was named to Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in sports in 2026 and has been a ubiquitous presence on red carpets, major sporting events and galas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
The latest changes bring its workforce back to just under 30,000 people, roughly where it stood before its most recent period of expansion.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
"It's always a little bit nerve-wracking because very often it happens that you cast two great people, and then when you put them in a room together, sparks do not fly," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Meanwhile, 17.6% of people with no new complex conditions disenrolled from their MA plan.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Second to last question: Ford, what would people be surprised to know about you?”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
The researchers also compared Indigenous Peruvians with the Maya, an Indigenous population in Mexico that shares evolutionary history with Andean peoples but does not have a tradition of potato farming.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
The corps was far more numerous than the populations of the villages on its route; its ravages cleaned out food stores that local peoples counted on for survival.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
For Osborne, the tapestry tells a story of destruction and invasion, but also of two nations, two peoples, forever entwined.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Even if ultimately the Ingalls and their neighbors can only slow down the inevitable, they learn to see each other clearly and value what the many hands of many peoples can make.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
The Indigenous peoples of the North American continent spoke hundreds of languages.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The village was peopled with "extraordinary, eccentric, cosmopolitan people, defeated by life", some of whom would later reappear in her fiction.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025
The film is peopled by gaudy clichés in place of real human characters.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024
The system of transporting criminals to Siberia has proved, the more the territory became peopled with voluntary settlers, prejudicial to Siberia itself.
From New York Times ● May 21, 2024
Muñoz’s stories are peopled by furtive figures who grapple with survival and loss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2023
Helene and her daughter entered a coach peopled by some twenty white men and women.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
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
According to the museum’s website, Mr. Woodbury researched “potential connections between Indigenous communities to study human variation and support early anthropological theories around the peopling of North America.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2022
“This is fascinating work,” University of Kansas, Lawrence, paleogeneticist Jennifer Raff, who studies the early peopling of the Americas, wrote in an email.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
