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View synonyms for populate

populate

[ pop-yuh-leyt ]

verb (used with object)

, pop·u·lat·ed, pop·u·lat·ing.
  1. to inhabit; live in; be the inhabitants of:

    Almost 2 million people populate the immediate area of the factory and were exposed to potential carcinogens.

  2. to furnish with inhabitants, as by colonization; people:

    In the 1700s, the British government populated the colony of New South Wales with convicts.

  3. Digital Technology. to fill (a digital document): She’s a fantastic photographer who has populated her blog with beautiful images.

    The survey results will populate the spreadsheet as soon as they are submitted online.

    She’s a fantastic photographer who has populated her blog with beautiful images.



populate

/ ˈpɒpjʊˌleɪt /

verb

  1. often passive to live in; inhabit
  2. to provide a population for; colonize or people


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Other Words From

  • out·pop·u·late verb (used with object) outpopulated outpopulating
  • re·pop·u·late verb (used with object) repopulated repopulating
  • su·per·pop·u·lat·ed adjective
  • un·der·pop·u·late verb (used with object) underpopulated underpopulating
  • un·pop·u·lat·ed adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of populate1

First recorded in 1570–80; from Medieval Latin populātus, past participle of populāre “to populate, inhabit”; people, -ate 1

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Word History and Origins

Origin of populate1

C16: from Medieval Latin populāre to provide with inhabitants, from Latin populus people

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Example Sentences

Her Facebook photos could populate a tame “girls with guns” style calendar.

There, abandoned “ghost towns” populate the prairie fields and deserts, serving as a reminder of a not-so-distant past.

Portraits of the Rolling Stones and other easily recognizable stars populate the small, alcove-like room straight ahead.

For the truly massive companies that populate the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the percentage is even higher.

The SUVs, coupes, and sedans that populate dealer showrooms are much greener than their antecedents.

They needed souls and chimeras to populate the imaginary regions which they have discovered in the other life.

In order to populate the new port, he proclaimed there a religious liberty he denied to his Duchy at large.

They may shun all association with women but at the same time maintain that they have a cultural mission to populate the earth.

I am getting to be an old man, and I have seen a great deal of the world, as we reckon it by the human beings who populate it.

He wrote: I consider men as a herd of deer in the deer park of some great lord, having no other task but to populate the park.

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