populating

verb

present participle of populate
as in inhabiting
to supply with inhabitants a small island populated only by woodland creatures

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of populating Artists and musicians had flocked to dirt-cheap rents, populating the neighborhood with small clubs and cheap tickets. — Michael Calderone, Curbed, 4 Sep. 2026 The Democratic Party needs someone like you to bring the spirit of Rocky Marciano into the political ring instead of the creampuffs populating Democratic leadership today. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 July 2026 This reflects China’s decades of investment in math education, which has led to a fresh crop of talented young mathematicians populating the top universities. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 23 July 2026 The natural next step is to certify the data populating those definitions to the same standard as the definitions themselves, because that determines whether organizations can trust the systems built on top of them to act. — Jay Limburn, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026 In practice, that means AI is running the numbers, populating forms, surfacing options, and even suggesting installation dates. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 5 July 2026 Increasingly online, Americans started populating echo chambers and imbibing conspiracies, and distrust of the media grew. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 3 July 2026 The discovery offers the first evidence that star-forming galaxies like Shadow Blaster play a significant role in populating the universe with mysterious high-energy cosmic ghost-neutrinos. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 18 June 2026 By populating the green with so many conflicting personalities, director and cowriter Harold Ramis makes golf seem both monumentally silly and, despite its staid trappings, unexpectedly freewheeling. — Jesse Hassenger, Entertainment Weekly, 18 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for populating
  1. inhabiting
  2. colonizing
Verb
  • Somehow, Stan does, inhabiting the physicality and voice completely, turning up the volume on the Trumpian tics as the character ages.
    — Madeline Leung Coleman, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2026
  • The VisionQuest trailer suggests that his brother Tommy’s soul is inhabiting the body of Thomas Shepherd, played by Ruaridh Mollica.
    — Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of inhabiting
Verb
  • The film depicts the world’s richest man as petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel, detached from humans at a personal level (including various ex-partners and many of his children) while purporting to want to save humanity by colonizing Mars.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2026
  • Since then, seafaring and colonizing nations in particular have done much the same, centering their locations or adjusting sizes to project global reach and relevance.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of colonizing

Browse Nearby Words

populates
populating
populist
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Cite this Entry

“Populating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populating. Accessed 11 Sep. 2026.

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