populate
/ˈpɒpjuleɪt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈpɑːpjuleɪt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈpä-pyə-ˌlāt/ (ame, mw)
populate — verb
- populatepresent simple I / you / we / they
- populateshe / she / it
- populatedpast simple
- populating-ing form
1. to be the place where a particular group of people or animals makes its home — u
to be the place where a particular group of people or animals makes its home — used especially in passive constructions describing what inhabitants a region has.
The small island is populated mainly by fishing families who have lived there for generations.
passive: be populated by [group]
This remote valley is populated by fewer than five hundred year-round residents.
Rainforests are populated by an astonishing variety of insects, birds, and mammals.
The coastal wetlands are populated by otters, egrets, and dozens of fish species.
The vast Siberian forest is populated by deer, wolves, and bears.
That city neighbourhood is populated mainly by students and young professionals.
The northern plains are thinly populated, with just one town every hundred kilometres.
- inhabited
the direct synonym for the passive sense; 'populated' adds a slight emphasis on the density or mix of inhabitants
- occupied
suggests people are living in or using a space, but less natural for describing wildlife or a general population
- settled
implies people moved there and established a community; more historical in tone
- uninhabited
describes a place with no residents at all
- depopulated
describes a place that once had residents but lost them
文法句型
be populated by [people/animals]
densely/thinly populated area
用法筆記
Frequently passive. The 'by'-phrase naming the inhabitants is almost always present; without it the sentence feels incomplete (compare 'The island was populated' vs 'The island was populated by European settlers').
常見錯誤
2. to live in a place as a resident — used actively, with the people or animals as
to live in a place as a resident — used actively, with the people or animals as the subject of the sentence, emphasising that they together form the area's population.
Over thirty million people populate the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.
active transitive: [group] populate [place]
More than two million people populate this historic port city and its suburbs.
active transitive: [group] populate [place] — population figure
Dozens of different ethnic groups populate the neighbourhoods of this diverse city.
Wild horses still populate a few remote mountain valleys in Central Asia.
文法句型
[people/animals] populate [place]
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: sense 1 (BE INHABITED) is passive and describes what sort of inhabitants a place has; sense 2 (ACTIVELY INHABIT) is active and states the fact of a group living somewhere as its population. The subject of sense 2 should always be the inhabitants themselves, not a geographic area.
常見錯誤
3. to insert data into a computer-based document, table, or list, typically through
to insert data into a computer-based document, table, or list, typically through an automatic process rather than by typing it manually.
The script populates the spreadsheet with sales figures pulled from the database.
populate [document] with [data]
Once you enter a customer ID, the form populates the address fields automatically.
Mei-Lin wrote a macro to populate the invoice template with each client's details.
The registration system will populate a welcome email with the user's name and access information.
After the customer completes the checkout, the system populates the invoice with their name, address, and order details.
- clear
to remove data from a document or field
文法句型
populate [document/table/field] with [data]
populate [database/list] automatically
用法筆記
The subject is typically a software tool (script, macro, system), and the object is the container being filled (form, table, email, field). Can be used in the passive ('the list is populated from a server') when the agent is a program rather than a person.
常見錯誤
4. to introduce inhabitants into a region — for instance, bringing settlers to a pr
to introduce inhabitants into a region — for instance, bringing settlers to a previously empty territory or releasing wildlife back into a protected area.
The government encouraged farmers to populate the empty prairie land in the nineteenth century.
deliberate settlement: populate + empty area
Conservationists are working to re-populate the nature reserve with wolves that were once native to the region.
In the 1700s, European settlers began to populate the eastern coast of what is now the United States.
The program aims to populate the river with young salmon raised in hatcheries.
- settle
the closest synonym; 'settle' focuses on the act of establishing a community, while 'populate' emphasises filling a space with inhabitants
- colonise
has political and historical overtones of taking control; narrower than 'populate'
- stock
used especially for introducing animals (stock a pond with fish, stock a farm with cattle)
- depopulate
to reduce the number of inhabitants in an area
文法句型
populate [area] with [people/animals]
[people] were brought to populate [area]
用法筆記
Common in historical or conservation contexts. Unlike sense 1 (which describes an existing state) and sense 2 (which describes the fact of living somewhere), this sense focuses on the deliberate act of introducing inhabitants to a place. Often used with 're-' prefix ('repopulate').