populate

verb

pop·​u·​late ˈpä-pyə-ˌlāt 

populated; populating

transitive verb

1

: to have a place in : occupy, inhabit

Strange creatures populate the deep ocean.

2

a

: to furnish or provide with inhabitants : people

… there were survivors, and their descendants populate the world today.

—Walter Alvarez

b

: to provide with members

Synonyms of populate

• inhabit
• people

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

For about three hours, the track wound through a seemingly endless range of green hills populated by grazing cows—a kind of Congolese Switzerland. —Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025

Viewers can watch a young girl’s favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, come to life, do battle and venture away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. —Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 22 Nov. 2025

Felix and Jess are on the first ship to populate Mars! —Joe Otterson, Variety, 21 Nov. 2025

Downstream from the Crash Zone, the Guadalupe flows north along the edge of the airport on its way to the Bay, passing dozens of camps and acres of office parks populated by household names—PayPal, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Roku, Cisco, Intel. —Literary Hub, 21 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin populātus, past participle of populāre "to provide with inhabitants,", derivative of Latin populus people entry 1

First Known Use

1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for populate

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• adsorbate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate

Kids Definition

populate

verb

pop·​u·​late ˈpäp-yə-ˌlāt 

populated; populating

1

: to have a place in : occupy, inhabit

2

: to provide with inhabitants : people