population

noun

pop·​u·​la·​tion ˌpä-pyə-ˈlā-shən How to pronounce population (audio)
1
a
: the whole number of people or inhabitants in a country or region
b
: the total of individuals occupying an area or making up a whole
c
: the total of particles at a particular energy level
used especially of atoms in a laser
2
: the act or process of populating
3
a
: a body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common
b(1)
: the organisms inhabiting a particular locality
(2)
: a group of interbreeding organisms that represents the level of organization at which speciation begins
4
: a group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples are taken for statistical measurement
populational adjective

Examples of population in a Sentence

The world's population has increased greatly. The city has experienced an increase in population. There has been a sharp reduction in the bat population in this region. the rural population of America
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
That election, which will select members of Iraq's 329-seat parliament, comes amid rising unemployment, which continues to weigh on Iraq's young and restless population. Emma Graham, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2025 Another risk that worries him was the potential for models to be engineered to refuse requests from or be less helpful to certain groups of the population, just by detecting specific patterns in the request or keywords. Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2025 That wing is reserved for prisoners considered unsuited to be among the prison’s general population, usually out of fears for their own safety. Joseph Ataman, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025 Though successful, this is not a scalable approach for the global population of people affected by this disease, Dutta says. Tara Haelle, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for population

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin populātiōn-, populātiō "group of people, crowd," from Latin populus people entry 1 + -ā-, stem vowel of 1st conjugation verbs + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action

Note: This noun appears to have been formed from a verb populāre "to people, provide with inhabitants" that is not attested before the later Middle Ages. (At the corresponding entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, a verb populāre with the sense "to increase" is cited with the date "c550 in a British source," though there is no matching record in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources.) Thesaurus Linguae Latinae has two citations for a verb populāre meaning "to show, reveal," in the Vetus Latina and Gregory of Tours, that the editor judged to be errors for prōpalāre, a derivative of classical prōpalam "in full view, openly."

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of population was in 1612

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Population.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/population. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

population

noun
pop·​u·​la·​tion ˌpäp-yə-ˈlā-shən How to pronounce population (audio)
1
: the whole number of people living in a country or region
2
: the act or process of populating
3
: a group of one or more species of organisms living in a particular area or habitat

Medical Definition

population

noun
pop·​u·​la·​tion ˌpäp-yə-ˈlā-shən How to pronounce population (audio)
1
: the whole number of people or inhabitants in a country or region
2
a
: a body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common
b(1)
: the organisms inhabiting a particular locality
(2)
: a group of interbreeding organisms that represents the level of organization at which speciation begins
3
: a group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples are taken for statistical measurement

More from Merriam-Webster on population

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!