population

[pop-yuh-ley-shuhn]

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.

population

/ 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

population

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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of population¹

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

Example Sentences

Because body composition, eating patterns, and health behaviors differ around the world, the authors emphasized the need to understand how these drugs work in more diverse populations.

Read more on Science Daily

Foreign-born residents now make up close to 10% of Chile’s population, one of the highest levels in Latin America, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Auschwitz was at the centre of the Nazi campaign to eradicate Europe's Jewish population, and almost one million of those who died at the site were Jews.

Read more on BBC

The failure to plan for growing urban populations’ water needs has created new problems.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

If Spanish officials had little direct connection to the Nazi Holocaust, Kaufman argues, that was because the entire Jewish population had been expelled from Spain in the 15th century.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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