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Definitions

populate

[pop-yuh-layt] / ˈpɒp jəˌleɪt /
VERB
supply with inhabitants
Synonyms
Antonyms
STRONG


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.

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After the death of her lover, Romanian sculptor George Apostu, whose rough-hewn wood sculptures still populate the house’s patio, Caland’s children encouraged yet another departure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

If so, the Saguaro could offer an important link between the large population of little red dots Webb sees at high redshift and the galaxies that populate the more recent universe.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

In fact, daemons of all stripes populate the series – and always in pairs.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

The characters who populate the Visconti-Sforza deck are so lifelike we half expect them to turn and speak to us.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

Literacy rates climbed, and educated blacks began to populate legislatures, open schools, and initiate successful businesses.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

One simple Google search of the laptop populates a collection of rave reviews from people who have gotten their hands on the device before it officially becomes available on Wednesday.

From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026

Ms. Doucet populates the book with sympathetic characters—the “real cement and steel of the Inter-Con”—conscientious and kind Afghans who keep the hotel going as regimes collapse, rulers change, mores alter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025

The director doesn’t see the evil that populates his scenes as uniquely Mexican but simply his interpretation of the only place he’s ever known.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2023

“Oppenheimer” sticks almost entirely to its protagonist’s point of view yet also populates its three-hour film with an incredible array of faces, all in exquisite detail.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 19, 2023

And we know or have known that of its impulse among us lesser folk it holifies and populates this world.

From Fort Amity by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

Her tiny house lies just a couple of metres from the Ngong river, which runs through this densely populated area in the capital, Nairobi.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026

After the user schedules a test drive, the information about the drive and vehicle is automatically populated into the local dealer’s customer relationship management system, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026

Its influence on local carbon measurements can be especially noticeable in densely populated cities and urban areas, where large numbers of people live and work close together.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2026

"That really increases the chance of cold air outbreaks across the latitudes where most of the densely populated population centers are across the northern hemisphere, US, Europe and East Asia," Cohen told AFP.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

In fact, in proportion to its available area of farmland, Japan is the most densely populated major society in the world.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

But here’s what I want to know: By populating “VisionQuest” with a host of attractively anthropomorphized AI systems, did creator Terry Matalas wind up making an eight-episode Disney+ infomercial for data centers?

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

This is how the scores of docuseries and podcasts populating the genre transform actual horror into digestible content.

From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026

Suddenly, most of the major groups of animals alive today -- including vertebrates which would eventually include humans -- evolved and started populating the world's oceans.

From Barron's ● Jan. 28, 2026

Hyams said the Ralph Lauren Christmas images populating social media fuel her generation’s desire for nostalgia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025

Because of their key role in establishing and populating a colony, settlers may be called colonizers.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz


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