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.
The Lagos-based refinery, which began operations in 2024, has a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, exceeding domestic demand in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
To see if more women with ectopic pregnancies are experiencing severe health outcomes, ProPublica analyzed hospital data from Texas, the most populous state to ban abortion.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Much less populous Iowa pursued 16,279 estates and recovered $25 million from 3,397 of them.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Both of the people lived in Lancaster County, a populous area in the southeast part of the state known for its large Amish community, the health department said Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 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
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.
