Definition: Population

From New World Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Population)

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (a people, multitude), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus. Doublet of poblacion.

Noun

population (plural populations)

  1. The people living within a political or geographical boundary.
    The population of New Jersey will not stand for this!
  2. The people with a given characteristic.
    India has the third-largest population of English-speakers in the world.
  3. A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.
    The village has a population of only 243.
  4. (biology) A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area.
    A seasonal migration annually changes the populations in two or more biotopes drastically, many twice in opposite senses.
  5. (statistics) A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.
  6. (computing) The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.
    John clicked the Search button and waited for the population of the list to complete.

Derived terms

  • depopulation
  • general population
  • overpopulation
  • populational
  • population density
  • populationism
  • populationless
  • repopulation
  • underpopulation

Related terms

  • popular
  • populate
  • populous

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