Populous
/ˈpɒpjʊləs/
adjectivemedium📊CommonGeneral
1 meaning3 questions
Definitions
1
Having a large population; densely populated.
/ˈpɒpjʊləs/
adjectiveneutralmedium
General
Tokyo is a populous metropolis.
💡 Simply: Imagine a place that's super crowded, like a busy subway during rush hour. That place is populous! It just means lots and lots of people live there.
👶 For kids: It means a lot of people live there.
More Examples
2
India is a populous nation with a rapidly growing population.
3
The Amazon rainforest is less populous than many other areas of the world.
How It's Used
Geography
"China is a populous country."
Demographics
"The most populous cities are often centers of economic activity."
From Latin *populosus* ("full of people"), from *populus* ("people").
Used since the 17th century, the word 'populous' has consistently referred to locations with many inhabitants.
Memory tip
Think of a 'pop' and imagine a lot of people 'popping' up everywhere.
Word Origin
LanguageLatin
Original meaning
"people"
populous countrypopulous citypopulous areapopulous regionmost populous
Common misspellings
populuspopulace
Practice
Usage
40%Spoken
60%Written