as in inhabits
to supply with inhabitants
a small island populated only by woodland creatures
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Recent Examples of populates
Pixar populates this ocean with entertaining characters and unforgettable dangers, but the thrills won’t scare young viewers about taking a dip, even with the presence of a ravenous shark.
—
Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Dec. 2025
Plus, the marine life that populates SpongeBob’s underwater world is animated beautifully (especially for those of us who love vibrant, bold colors).
—Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 19 Dec. 2025
There’s not much tension to be found in these interviews, even as Fumudoh is still playing her comic role as puritan interrogator, but her questions regularly facilitate the type of quick-witted banter that populates Instagram video-podcast clips.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2025
Another concern became the proprietary algorithm that populates what users see on the app.
—Josh Boak, Twin Cities, 15 Sep. 2025
Ejecta from its innermost large, volcano-rich moon, Io, populates this inner magnetosphere with sulfur dioxide gas, where the magnetic field forces this material to co-rotate with Jupiter itself in a torus-like shape.
—Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 3 Sep. 2025
Now, when a user opens Lens Live, the Amazon app instantly populates a carousel of potential products in real-time, without needing a static image.
—Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2025
Users have the option of clicking on an icon that populates an online shopping cart at participating retail chains.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2025
Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 26 Dec. 2025
Plus, the marine life that populates SpongeBob’s underwater world is animated beautifully (especially for those of us who love vibrant, bold colors).
—Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 19 Dec. 2025
There’s not much tension to be found in these interviews, even as Fumudoh is still playing her comic role as puritan interrogator, but her questions regularly facilitate the type of quick-witted banter that populates Instagram video-podcast clips.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2025
Another concern became the proprietary algorithm that populates what users see on the app.
—Josh Boak, Twin Cities, 15 Sep. 2025
Ejecta from its innermost large, volcano-rich moon, Io, populates this inner magnetosphere with sulfur dioxide gas, where the magnetic field forces this material to co-rotate with Jupiter itself in a torus-like shape.
—Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 3 Sep. 2025
Now, when a user opens Lens Live, the Amazon app instantly populates a carousel of potential products in real-time, without needing a static image.
—Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2025
Users have the option of clicking on an icon that populates an online shopping cart at participating retail chains.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for populates
inhabits
Verb
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Zambia While most safaris are about watching wildlife, Time + Tide Chongwe Camp can coordinate a quest to catch (and release) one of Africa’s aquatic apex predators, the tiger fish, which inhabits the Zambezi River.—
Kinsey Gidick,
Travel + Leisure,
13 Jan. 2026
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And that seemingly uninterrupted one-take is its own argument for the necessity of the medium to transport and astound us out of a banal world, one as banal as the one the Deliriant inhabits as civilization comes to its last gasp.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
12 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Populates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populates. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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