populate

verb

pop·​u·​late ˈpä-pyə-ˌlāt How to pronounce populate (audio)
populated; populating

transitive verb

1
: to have a place in : occupy, inhabit
2
a
: to furnish or provide with inhabitants : people
b
: to provide with members

Examples of populate in a Sentence

Immigrants began to populate the area in the late 19th century. Strange creatures populate the ocean depths.
Recent Examples on the Web The only thing that populated on my [grid] was everything Drag Race. Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 8 Apr. 2024 Local governments and their building inspectors are barred from implementing their own regulations and ordinances regarding the equipment that populates most of the downtown skylines of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 7 Apr. 2024 David Mordini populates a former office with oversize plastic cicadas that gawk at passersby through big red or orange eyes as insect pitches emerge from a soundtrack by the late Barry Schmetter. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024 The San Jose roster is populated with a number of other top picks from last year’s draft. Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 2 Apr. 2024 Make sure customers can search by category, SKU or use-case, and consider adding an auto-complete function to quickly populate the search box with product suggestions as a user starts to type. 2. Yoav Kutner, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024 Archaeologists estimate humans populated the site for five to ten years, during a time with seasonal dry periods. Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Mar. 2024 Movies like Andrew Bujalski’s Mutual Appreciation, Aaron Katz’s Quiet City, Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture and Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel formed the crux of a New York film scene populated by hipsters and stretching from downtown Manhattan to Park Slope. Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Apr. 2024 The forests of Java, an island in Indonesia, were once heavily populated by the eponymous Java tiger, a subspecies of Sumatran tiger. Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'populate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Medieval Latin populatus, past participle of populare to people, from Latin populus people

First Known Use

1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of populate was in 1578

Dictionary Entries Near populate

Cite this Entry

“Populate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/populate. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

populate

verb
pop·​u·​late ˈpäp-yə-ˌlāt How to pronounce populate (audio)
populated; populating
1
: to have a place in : occupy, inhabit
2
: to provide with inhabitants : people

More from Merriam-Webster on populate

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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