as in inhabiting
to supply with inhabitants
a small island populated only by woodland creatures
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Suddenly, most of the major groups of animals alive today — including vertebrates which would eventually include humans — evolved and started populating the world's oceans.
—
CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026
Companies exist that can help in establishing, populating, and reviewing the data room, such as Stella Legal.
—Allbusiness, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
More encouragingly, Newcastle are extremely excited about their under-14s and the age groups below, which are the post-takeover cohorts, with many youngsters populating England youth sides.
—Chris Waugh, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2026
That sets it apart from the myriad space operas populating big-budget TV in recent years; the relationships are the real substance of the show, the interstellar adventures are the dessert.
—Will Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Jan. 2026
Want to get a closer look at the diverse menagerie of worlds populating our solar system?
—Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Dec. 2025
There’s also the problem of sorting through the data and making sure the videos are accessible with the right credit and creator, which adds research hours to the task of populating diVine with Vine’s back catalog.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 24 Dec. 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
CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026
Companies exist that can help in establishing, populating, and reviewing the data room, such as Stella Legal.
—Allbusiness, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
More encouragingly, Newcastle are extremely excited about their under-14s and the age groups below, which are the post-takeover cohorts, with many youngsters populating England youth sides.
—Chris Waugh, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2026
That sets it apart from the myriad space operas populating big-budget TV in recent years; the relationships are the real substance of the show, the interstellar adventures are the dessert.
—Will Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Jan. 2026
Want to get a closer look at the diverse menagerie of worlds populating our solar system?
—Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Dec. 2025
There’s also the problem of sorting through the data and making sure the videos are accessible with the right credit and creator, which adds research hours to the task of populating diVine with Vine’s back catalog.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 24 Dec. 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for populating
Verb
-
Featuring Tim McGraw, Eric Church, and Morgan Wallen, the song finds each artist inhabiting a specific member of the landowning (fictional) McArthur family.—
Joseph Hudak,
Rolling Stone,
30 Jan. 2026
-
The casting of Hahn will be a bit of a magical treat to fans, who for months had fan-cast her as the bad guy in this project, even when actress Scarlett Johansson was temporarily inhabiting it.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Musk has regularly expressed his ambitions in space travel, previously suggesting colonizing Mars.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Starship launches from Starbase Musk has often spoken about his vision of colonizing other worlds in our solar system to ensure humanity's survival in the event of an extinction-level even on Earth.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Populating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populating. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
