populous
Americanadjective
-
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.
Successive administrations have viewed the world's most populous Arab country as a critical US ally in the region.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Polls close in Mississippi, the populous eastern part of Kansas and all of Texas except El Paso and vicinity at 8 p.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Fifty-three of the patient's contacts have been identified by the Nigerian health authorities, in a bid to stop the virus spreading across Africa's most populous nation.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
A key plank in this emerging strategy involves the most populous Democratic state in the country: California.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2026
Such bureaucracies were essential not only to governing large and populous domains but also to maintaining standing armies, sending out fleets of exploration, and organizing wars of conquest.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
