populace

noun

pop·​u·​lace ˈpä-pyə-ləs 

1

: the common people : masses

2

: population

Did you know?

Populace is usually used to refer to all the people of a country. Thus, we're often told that an educated and informed populace is essential for a healthy American democracy. Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous radio "Fireside Chats" informed and reassured the American populace in the 1930s as we struggled through the Great Depression. We often hear about what "the general populace" is thinking or doing, but generalizing about something so huge can be tricky.

Synonyms of populace

• people
• public
• crowd
• mob
• commoners
• mass
• millions

Examples of populace in a Sentence

The populace has suffered greatly.

high officials awkwardly mingling with the general populace

Recent Examples on the Web

But Onslaught doesn’t interrogate or even look at the military industrial complex with much interest beyond the notion that its fictional super soldiers were created to be unleashed upon civilian populaces. — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026

China also hopes to encourage more citizens to exercise, thereby making an aging populace more active and reducing strain on the health system. — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 3 Sep. 2026

This is where the irrationality of antisemitic conspiracy gains no purchase among a reasoning and pragmatic populace; where government is led by people who grasp, and embrace, the seriousness of their responsibilities. — Rory Lancman, New York Daily News, 5 Aug. 2026

Since the 1700s, Jamaica’s populace has been dominated by the descendants of African slaves. — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French, "mob, rabble," borrowed from Italian popolazzo, popolaccio "the common people, the masses, rabble, mob," from popolo people entry 1 + -azzo, -accio, augmentative and pejorative suffix, going back to Latin -āceus -aceous

Note: The extension of -āceus to nouns, through deletion of the modified head noun, takes place already in Latin (see note at -aceous), and continued into Italian—compare focaccia "flatbread," already attested in Late Latin, from Latin focus "hearth." At some point the notion of appurtenance or similarity appears to have led to that of devaluation, whence the application of the Italian suffix to things of inappropriately large size or inferior quality. The derivatives popolazzo and popolaccio show both the Tuscan outcome -accio and a variant -azzo that represents the outcome of -āceus in Upper Italian or southern Italian dialects.

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for populace

• populous
• populus

Kids Definition

populace

noun

pop·​u·​lace ˈpäp-yə-ləs 

1

: the common people : masses

2

: population sense 1