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With a metropolitan area of more than 20 million people, Mexico City could be called the world's second or third most populous city. And the nearby Aztec city of Tenochtitlán was one of the largest cities in the world even when Hernán Cortés arrived there in 1519. But by the time Cortés conquered the city in 1521 it wasn't nearly so populous, since European diseases had greatly reduced the population. Avoid confusing populous and populace, which are pronounced exactly the same.

Examples of populous in a Sentence

the most populous state in the U.S.

Recent Examples on the Web The quake struck in northern Luzon, the country's most populous island, at 8:43 a.m. local time (8:43 p.m. ET), according to USGS. — Jessie Yeung, CNN, 26 July 2022 Women’s soccer — like men’s soccer — should not just be the preserve of populous and wealthy nations. — New York Times, 22 July 2022 According to Anytime Estimate, a real estate and loan website, Birmingham is one of just seven cities out of America’s 50 most populous with an overall vacancy rate higher than the national average of 11.6%. — William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 18 July 2022 Several small countries and—as of October 2021, Nigeria—have launched their central bank digital currencies, and several more populous nations are getting ready to jump aboard a different crypto hype train. — Katharina Buchholz, Forbes, 15 July 2022 The core of the heat may concentrate along and just west of the populous Interstate 35 corridor, affecting San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Wichita. — Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 14 July 2022 With a population of about 7,000, San Juan is the most populous and most visited of the San Juans. — Susan Glaser, cleveland, 14 July 2022 Nigeria, Pakistan, and India are in the top 6 of the world’s most populous countries and will each have more people in 2050, per the UN’s latest projections. — Alexander Onukwue, Quartz, 12 July 2022 Wary of an assertive China, Abe developed close ties between Japan, Asia’s richest democracy, and India, the region’s most populous. — Anchorage Daily News, 8 July 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'populous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.