as in to inhabit
to supply with inhabitants
a small island populated only by woodland creatures
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Recent Examples of populate
The product listing for the latest colorway has yet to surface, but the pair is expected to populate soon on Nike’s Snkrs app.
—
Riley Jones, Footwear News, 27 May 2026
It’s also populated with enough solid jokes and familiar faces to suggest that the execs who are still financing these kinds of projects believe the mainstream comedy has a profitable future.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 27 May 2026
Ahead of me, the pews were sparsely populated by about four dozen people, many still wearing their matching green name tags.
—Katie Thornton, Harpers Magazine, 26 May 2026
The oil- and mineral-rich province is the largest but least populated in Pakistan, and is a hub for the country's ethnic Baloch minority.
—Sami Yousafzai, CBS News, 24 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for populate
Riley Jones, Footwear News, 27 May 2026
It’s also populated with enough solid jokes and familiar faces to suggest that the execs who are still financing these kinds of projects believe the mainstream comedy has a profitable future.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 27 May 2026
Ahead of me, the pews were sparsely populated by about four dozen people, many still wearing their matching green name tags.
—Katie Thornton, Harpers Magazine, 26 May 2026
The oil- and mineral-rich province is the largest but least populated in Pakistan, and is a hub for the country's ethnic Baloch minority.
—Sami Yousafzai, CBS News, 24 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for populate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for populate
Verb
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As previously reported, Silo is set in a self-sustaining underground city inhabited by a community whose recorded history dates back only 140 years.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
2 June 2026
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It was filmed on our streets, in our bars, and featured many of the men who inhabited the late 1970s gay world.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
2 June 2026
Verb
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Ishaq has made a film peopled with women and boys who go beyond simple archetypes, setting joyful female solidarity against omnipresent conflict in a way designed to communicate with a broad demographic.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
22 May 2026
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Hypocrisy, not rail spindles or dog poop, is top of the play’s agenda, and to poke around that subject the playwright has peopled his work with a collection of character types.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
21 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Populate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populate. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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