as in inhabiting
to supply with inhabitants
a small island populated only by woodland creatures
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Recent Examples of populating
Today, almost every Apple device—or indeed, most of the smart devices populating our workplaces and homes—draws its intelligence from Arm's innovative chipset architecture.
—
Tim Bajarin, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
The 300-second exposure shows the wandering solar system body as a minute dot, barely distinguishable among the stellar giants populating the distant starfield beyond.
—Anthony Wood, Space.com, 1 Sep. 2025
And populating all four of our RAM slots with a 32GB stick of DDR5 avoids any unsightly blank spots inside our case.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2025
The last major new feature, Healthspan, takes three weeks of use to start populating information for physiological age and pace of aging.
—PC Magazine, 15 Aug. 2025
The couple’s brutal treatment of Mickey contrasts with their interest in populating a new world.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025
The Emmy-winning Max comedy announced Tuesday the addition of 13 new guest stars planned for the fourth season — including those populating the writers room on Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) new late-night talk show.
—Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2025
Meanwhile, the plunging neckline trend has also been populating the red carpet over the past year.
—Marissa Muller, WWD, 2 Mar. 2025
Tracks from Deadbeat also take over Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with eight of the album’s cuts populating the 25-position ranking, including six of the top 10.
—Keith Caulfield, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
Tim Bajarin, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
The 300-second exposure shows the wandering solar system body as a minute dot, barely distinguishable among the stellar giants populating the distant starfield beyond.
—Anthony Wood, Space.com, 1 Sep. 2025
And populating all four of our RAM slots with a 32GB stick of DDR5 avoids any unsightly blank spots inside our case.
—ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2025
The last major new feature, Healthspan, takes three weeks of use to start populating information for physiological age and pace of aging.
—PC Magazine, 15 Aug. 2025
The couple’s brutal treatment of Mickey contrasts with their interest in populating a new world.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2025
The Emmy-winning Max comedy announced Tuesday the addition of 13 new guest stars planned for the fourth season — including those populating the writers room on Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) new late-night talk show.
—Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2025
Meanwhile, the plunging neckline trend has also been populating the red carpet over the past year.
—Marissa Muller, WWD, 2 Mar. 2025
Tracks from Deadbeat also take over Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with eight of the album’s cuts populating the 25-position ranking, including six of the top 10.
—Keith Caulfield, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for populating
Verb
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The music video is a single shot of Welch in the back of a car, singing along in a suit, sporting shades and a cigar, both mocking and inhabiting the position of male dominance.—
Grace Byron,
New Yorker,
6 Nov. 2025
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On Tuesday night the onstage performer inhabiting the creature created by Tahra Zafar was Arti Shah, and it was voiced by James Hameed.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Um, Chris happens to be indigenous, and indigenous peoples in, in the US and Canada have suffered horrible abuse at the hands of, of the colonizing states.—
Outside Online,
Outside Online,
22 Oct. 2025
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But the discovery of a woman’s body — and a very strange encounter with the ants colonizing it — soon proves that things can always get worse.—
Neil McRobert,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Populating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populating. Accessed 10 Nov. 2025.
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