as in to inhabit
to supply with inhabitants
a small island populated only by woodland creatures
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of populate
Perhaps the thought of former pros populating college sports and taking spots away animates Congress to act, but the track record isn’t promising.
—
Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 10 Feb. 2026
Villainous weirdos like Bronze Age Pervert, Curtis Yarvin, or Jack Donovan who populate the ranks of far-right intellectuals are obsessed with their own fabulism about antiquity, reminding one of the murderous gaggle of privileged college kids in Donna Tart’s 1993 campus novel The Secret History.
—Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Cao began creating a new body of work based on XAG’s projects, which used drones and driverless vehicles to populate farmlands.
—Denni Hu, Footwear News, 10 Feb. 2026
The area is populated with stony terraces and narrow streets where bistros serve good Italian food (this being so close to the Italian border) and markets to shop for artisanal items.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for populate
Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 10 Feb. 2026
Villainous weirdos like Bronze Age Pervert, Curtis Yarvin, or Jack Donovan who populate the ranks of far-right intellectuals are obsessed with their own fabulism about antiquity, reminding one of the murderous gaggle of privileged college kids in Donna Tart’s 1993 campus novel The Secret History.
—Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Cao began creating a new body of work based on XAG’s projects, which used drones and driverless vehicles to populate farmlands.
—Denni Hu, Footwear News, 10 Feb. 2026
The area is populated with stony terraces and narrow streets where bistros serve good Italian food (this being so close to the Italian border) and markets to shop for artisanal items.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for populate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for populate
Verb
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And yet, all throughout that time, Earth was not just inhabited, but life was thriving and rapidly evolving on the surface, despite all the physical, chemical, and biological changes that have occurred over those geologically long timescales.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
17 Feb. 2026
-
For the first 30 years of his life in the Dead, Weir inhabited different roles.—
David Browne,
Rolling Stone,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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This neighborhood, peopled almost entirely by the people who claim to have been driven from Poland and Russia, is the eyesore of New York and perhaps the filthiest place on the western continent.—
Alexandra Schwartz,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
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Throughout Humphreys County and Hickman County, peopled gathered with their churches for support and comfort in the days after the tragedy.—
Beth Warren,
Nashville Tennessean,
12 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Populate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populate. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
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