population
Americannoun
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the total number of people inhabiting a country, city, or any district or area.
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the body of inhabitants of a place.
The population of the city opposes the addition of fluorides to the drinking water.
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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.
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Statistics. any finite or infinite aggregation of individuals, not necessarily animate, subject to a statistical study.
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Ecology.
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the assemblage of a specific type of organism living in a given area.
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all the individuals of one species in a given area.
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the act or process of populating.
Population of the interior was hampered by dense jungles.
noun
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(sometimes functioning as plural) all the persons inhabiting a country, city, or other specified place
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the number of such inhabitants
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(sometimes functioning as plural) all the people of a particular race or class in a specific area
the Chinese population of San Francisco
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the act or process of providing a place with inhabitants; colonization
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ecology a group of individuals of the same species inhabiting a given area
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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
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Also called: universe. statistics the entire finite or infinite aggregate of individuals or items from which samples are drawn
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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.
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See also deme
Other Word Forms
- populational adjective
- populationless adjective
- repopulation noun
- subpopulation noun
- superpopulation noun
Etymology
Origin of population
First recorded in 1570–80, population is from the Late Latin word populātiōn- (stem of populātiō ). See populate, -ion
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.
Across California, where about 40% of the population is Latino and up to 7% is undocumented, that anxiety has been especially sharp, and personal.
From Los Angeles Times
The vast majority of civilians had already been evacuated from the village, whose pre-war population is reported to be about 700 people.
From BBC
If similar processes occur in humans, and given growing evidence that the gut microbiome plays an important role in health, genetic influences on human health may be underestimated in large population studies.
From Science Daily
According to scientists, the crisis is being driven by a fast-growing bear population, combined with a falling human population and poor acorn harvest pushing bears to seek food elsewhere.
From Barron's
The greater metro population of Milwaukee is just shy of one and half million people.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
