populate
Americanverb (used with object)
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populates,
present (3rd person singular)
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populated,
past participle, past
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populating
present participle
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to inhabit; live in; be the inhabitants of.
Almost 2 million people populate the immediate area of the factory and were exposed to potential carcinogens.
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to furnish with inhabitants, as by colonization; people.
In the 1700s, the British government populated the colony of New South Wales with convicts.
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Digital Technology. to fill (a digital document): She’s a fantastic photographer who has populated her blog with beautiful images.
The survey results will populate the spreadsheet as soon as they are submitted online.
She’s a fantastic photographer who has populated her blog with beautiful images.
verb
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(often passive) to live in; inhabit
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to provide a population for; colonize or people
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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outpopulateverb (used with object)
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repopulateverb (used with object)
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underpopulateverb (used with object)
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superpopulatedadjective
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unpopulatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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populatesimple
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populatessimple
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have populatedperfect
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has populatedperfect
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am populatingprogressive
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are populatingprogressive
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is populatingprogressive
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have been populatingperfect progressive
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has been populatingperfect progressive
Past
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populatedsimple
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had populatedperfect
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was populatingprogressive
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were populatingprogressive
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had been populatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of populate
First recorded in 1570–80; from Medieval Latin populātus, past participle of populāre “to populate, inhabit”; see people, -ate 1
Explanation
When people live in or occupy a country, city, or town, they populate it. It doesn’t always refer to people — bugs might populate your kitchen if you leave half-eaten food out. If your family lives alone on an island, you're the only people who populate it. You can also use this verb to mean "be present in," so you might say that vampires populate your favorite books, or that animated characters populate most of the movies you watch. Populate also means "fill in" in computing: "Will you populate that spreadsheet with data?" The Latin populus, or "people," is at the root of populate.
Vocabulary lists containing populate
The Origins of Civilization, Lessons 3–5
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Road Home
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popul (people)
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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:
If so, the Saguaro could offer an important link between the large population of little red dots Webb sees at high redshift and the galaxies that populate the more recent universe.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
In fact, daemons of all stripes populate the series – and always in pairs.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Meanwhile, the walkers, families and nature lovers who usually populate the village during the summer months have been replaced by police, forensics officers and journalists.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Straw men populate the book’s later chapters, particularly on economic questions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
If all the inmates in these institutions were let free, they could populate a small city.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
One simple Google search of the laptop populates a collection of rave reviews from people who have gotten their hands on the device before it officially becomes available on Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
Ms. Doucet populates the book with sympathetic characters—the “real cement and steel of the Inter-Con”—conscientious and kind Afghans who keep the hotel going as regimes collapse, rulers change, mores alter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
He populates his posts with a colorful cast of celebrities: actors like Tim Allen and Whoopi Goldberg or musicians like Jason Aldean and Kid Rock.
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2024
The director doesn’t see the evil that populates his scenes as uniquely Mexican but simply his interpretation of the only place he’s ever known.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
As long as we have reasonable wants we get on comfortably, but it is the struggle after luxuries that fills society with distress, and populates prisons, and sends hundreds of people stark mad.
From Around The Tea-Table by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage
Reconstructing the transition from a world populated almost entirely by microbes to one filled with plants, animals, and fungi could also help scientists understand whether complex life might develop elsewhere in the universe.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026
The local authority has previously said the Highlands, which has large, sparsely populated areas, offered astronomy fans some of the darkest skies in Europe.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Hilton leads in the state’s more sparsely populated and conservative-leaning areas, including the Central Valley and North Coast/Sierra region.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
But while the fires did come near heavily populated areas—such as Melbourne and Sydney, where many media outlets are based—the total national burn was “well below average,” according to the government’s annual environmental overview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Large and densely populated islands supported craft specialists who produced a wide range of prestige goods for chiefs—such as the feather capes reserved for Hawaiian chiefs and made of tens of thousands of bird feathers.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
"Yes. There's a Catholic priest there who seems to be populating the whole country with redundant British and American organs."
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
This is how the scores of docuseries and podcasts populating the genre transform actual horror into digestible content.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
Suddenly, most of the major groups of animals alive today -- including vertebrates which would eventually include humans -- evolved and started populating the world's oceans.
From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026
The team searched to make sure multiple Tilly Norwoods weren’t populating the real world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025
Still others played by wearing their glasses while walking around the real world, showing off their virtual pet tigers or populating the streets with their favorite celebrities.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
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.
