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population

[pop-yuh-ley-shuh n]
noun
  1. the total number of persons 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 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.
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Origin of population

First recorded in 1570–80, population is from the Late Latin word populātiōn- (stem of populātiō). See populate, -ion
Related formspop·u·la·tion·al, adjectivepop·u·la·tion·less, adjectivere·pop·u·la·tion, nounsub·pop·u·la·tion, nounsu·per·pop·u·la·tion, noun
Can be confusedpopulace population populous
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for subpopulation

subpopulation

noun
  1. statistics a subgroup of a statistical population
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population

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 areathe 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
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for subpopulation

population

n.

1610s, from Late Latin populationem (nominative populatio) "a people; a multitude," as if from Latin populus "a people" (see people (n.)). Population explosion is first attested 1953.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
subpopulation in Medicine

population

(pŏp′yə-lā′shən)
n.
  1. The total number of people inhabiting a specific area.
  2. The set of individuals, items, or data from which a statistical sample is taken.
  3. All the organisms that constitute a specific group or occur in a specified habitat.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
subpopulation in Science

population

[pŏp′yə-lā′shən]
  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. See also deme.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.