populace

American  

[pop-yuh-luhs] / ˈpɒp yə ləs /

noun

1. the common people of a community, nation, etc., as distinguished from the higher classes.

2. all the inhabitants of a place; population.

---

populace British  

/ ˈpɒpjʊləs /

noun

1. the inhabitants of an area

2. the common people; masses

---

Etymology

Origin of populace

1565–75; < French < Italian popolaccio, equivalent to popol ( o ) people + -accio pejorative suffix

Example Sentences

The populace reacted so strongly to those images.

From Slate • Feb. 2, 2026

Plato saw it as an inevitable consequence of democracy, when a quest for freedom leads to excess and the populace demands a strongman.

From Salon • Jan. 15, 2026

Faber is positive about one thing: the ability of capitalism to lift the world’s populace out of poverty.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 9, 2026

Aubrecht watches from afar as Yscalin falls to Fýredel, its ruler and populace subjugating themselves to the cruel dragons, desperate to avoid their wrath.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

All the doors and windows were closed—and the sills, it went without saying, were empty of cake—and it was desolate with dead gardens and the telltale hunched hurry of a populace that feared the sky.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor