populate
gb/pˈɑpjəlˌeɪt/ us/pˈɑpjəlˌeɪt/
B2
English
~ 8600
Senses
0 senses
Verb
B2
action
1
fill a place with people or life
To make a place have people or animals living there.
Usage pattern:
to populate [a place] (with [people/animals])
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes use *populate* when they simply mean *live*: for example, saying "I populate in London" is incorrect. Use "I live in London". *Populate* is usually used for describing how many people or animals are in a place, or how they came to be there, often in a more formal or descriptive context (e.g. geography, history). Also, the preposition is usually *with*, as in "The valley is populated with small villages," not *by* when focusing on the thing added.
Synonyms
inhabit (Focuses on living in a place, usually used for the people or animals themselves rather than an outside cause.)
Antonyms
depopulate (Means to reduce or remove the number of people in a place, often through leaving or forced movement.)
Collocations
populate an area
|populate the region
|be populated by [people/animals]
|densely populated city
|sparsely populated area
Themes
environment
|society
|geography
|core_vocabulary
|nature
Examples
- Early farmers began to populate the river valley thousands of years ago.
- The small islands are populated mainly by fishing families.
- As the tech industry grew, new suburbs quickly populated the once-empty countryside.
- Rabbits and foxes populate the forests in this region.
- Many coastal areas are heavily populated because of trade and tourism.
Learner examples
- Many people populate the big city.
- The islands are populated by about 3,000 people.
- Wild animals populate the forest.
- This region is not very populated.
- The coast is more populated than the mountains.
Verb
technical
C1
action
2
fill a thing with data/items
To put information or items into a form, list, or database so that it is filled.
Usage pattern:
to populate [something] with [data/items]
Common mistake:
Learners may confuse *populate* with *complete* when talking about forms. For example, "populate the form" is common in technical or IT contexts, while in everyday speech people more often say "fill in the form" or "complete the form." Also, *populate* usually takes *with*, as in "populate the table with data," not *by* or *of*.
Synonyms
fill (A more general and less technical word; it does not specifically suggest data structures or electronic forms.)
Antonyms
empty (Means to remove all contents or data, which is the opposite of adding entries or information.)
Collocations
populate a database
|populate a form
|populate a table
|populate a list
|automatically populate fields
Themes
technology
|business
Examples
- The script will automatically populate the database with test records.
- Please populate all the required fields before submitting the online form.
- The spreadsheet is populated from data pulled directly from the server each night.
- When you select your country, the system will populate the city list accordingly.
- Developers wrote a tool to populate the table with sample data for training.
Learner examples
- The program populates the list with names.
- You must populate each box with your personal information.
- This form is populated with your data from last year.
- The app will populate the table when you click "Load".
- We use a script to populate the database.
Grammar
Dictionary form
populate
IPA
GB/pˈɑpjəlˌeɪt/
US/pˈɑpjəlˌeɪt/
Syllables & stress
pop - u - late (3 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (pop)
Word forms
Verb
- Base: populate
- 3rd Person Singular: populates
- Present Participle: populating
- Past: populated
Word family
Forms
populates
verb
populating
verb
populated
verb
Core family
population
noun A2
Related words
Negative and opposite forms
unpopulated
adjective
depopulate
verb
Advanced or less common
depopulation
noun
repopulate
verb
repopulation
noun
Expressions
No expressions linked to this entry yet.