populous
Americanadjective
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full of residents or inhabitants, as a region; heavily populated.
-
jammed or crowded with people.
There's no more populous place than Times Square on New Year's Eve.
-
forming or comprising a large number or quantity.
Because of epidemics the tribes are not nearly so populous as they once were.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of populous
1400–50; late Middle English populus < Latin populōsus. See people, -ous
Explanation
A populous place is full of people. If you left your cabin in the Maine woods to spend the weekend in New York City, you'd be particularly aware of how populous the city is. Anything that's dense with people can be described as populous, like the country of China or the city of Mumbai or even a crowded airport. Populous is a Latin word that means simply "people." It was adopted by English in the 15th century to mean "full of people." The adjective populous is easy to confuse with the noun populace, "the people who live in a country," especially since they are homonyms, or words that sound exactly the same.
Vocabulary lists containing populous
Much Ado: Synonyms for "Many"
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We the People: Popul
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"Othello" by William Shakespeare, Act IV-V
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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.
In the world's most populous country, struggling to have children still carries a heavy social stigma.
From BBC • Jul. 9, 2026
San Francisco saw the biggest increase in pending luxury sales among the 50 most populous metro areas over the past year, Redfin found in its data.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 9, 2026
Energy-hungry India -- the world's most populous country with 1.4 billion people -- has plans to drastically expand its nuclear power capacity.
From Barron's • Jul. 8, 2026
Since then, Lebanese health authorities say more than 4,250 people have been killed — a toll that surpasses the war deaths in Iran but in a country 16 times less populous.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 30, 2026
The great exception to this rule of the recent melting pot is the world’s most populous nation, China.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
