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Definitions

populate

[pop-yuh-leyt] / 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.

See Examples For:

“During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many more unhoused people began to populate our Metro system,” Mayor Karen Bass, who became Metro’s chair in July, said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 5, 2026

Zoos, according to the reporting here, were more than happy to populate their exhibits with the rarest reptiles, whether they were smuggled in or not.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 4, 2026

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

From Salon Jul. 18, 2026

Meanwhile, the walkers, families and nature lovers who usually populate the village during the summer months have been replaced by police, forensics officers and journalists.

From BBC Jul. 11, 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

In a phone interview, Anderson said that when someone buys a puppy from her online, the buyer information populates a travel certificate, and she arranges the health check and transportation.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 12, 2024

He populates his posts with a colorful cast of celebrities: actors like Tim Allen and Whoopi Goldberg or musicians like Jason Aldean and Kid Rock.

From New York Times Jun. 13, 2024

It populates human consciousness with heroes, saints and martyrs whose example awakens in everyone touched by it capacities they had not imagined they possessed.

From Century of Light by Baha'i International Community

Hilton leads in the state’s more sparsely populated and conservative-leaning areas, including the Central Valley and North Coast/Sierra region.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 13, 2026

It has triggered more than 1,000 flight cancellations, evacuations and a top-level alert from authorities as it approaches China's densely populated east coast.

From Barron's Aug. 9, 2026

“It points to very different groups of people that populated Chinese antiquity,” said Brown of MIT.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 8, 2026

Ocean levels are increasing, while in many densely populated regions, the ground itself is also sinking.

From Science Daily Aug. 3, 2026

Britain relied on its navy to safeguard the trade routes that brought riches to the small, densely populated British Isles and helped feed the British people.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

In other words, Jennifer Venditti’s nomination wasn’t just for placing Timothée Chalamet in “Marty Supreme,” it was for populating a world of 1950s characters around him.

From The Wall Street Journal Mar. 13, 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

For an hour, in the hostile territory of Parc des Princes, Spurs showed enough determination and creation to keep even PSG's "Ultras" populating Virage Auteuil relatively subdued.

From BBC Nov. 26, 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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