repopulate

IPA/ˌriːˈpɒp.jə.leɪt/
IPA/ˌriːˈpɑː.pjə.leɪt/

repopulate — verb

  • repopulatepresent simple I / you / we / they
  • repopulates3rd person singular
  • repopulating-ing form
  • repopulatedpast simple

1. to bring people back into a place that had become empty or had very few resident

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to bring people back into a place that had become empty or had very few residents, so that it becomes lived-in again

Example

After the war, the government repopulated the countryside by offering land to young families.

repopulate + place + by + method

The old village was slowly repopulated as people returned to rebuild their homes.

passive: be repopulated

Common collocations
  • repopulate the countryside
  • repopulate the region
  • repopulate the island
  • slowly repopulated
  • gradually repopulated
Synonyms
  • resettle

    focuses on the act of establishing new homes in a place, not just returning to it

  • recolonise

    more formal, often carries political or territorial overtones; less common in everyday speech

  • repeople

    a rarer, more literary synonym for repopulate with humans

Antonyms
  • depopulate

    to remove people from a place, reducing its population

  • evacuate

    to move people out of a place, usually for safety reasons

Grammar Patterns

repopulate + place

be repopulated (by + people)

repopulate + place + with + people

Usage Note

Frequently used in the passive voice. The subject is usually a government, organisation, or natural process — not a single person acting alone. Distinguish from sense 2, which is about animal or plant populations, not human settlement.

Common Mistakes

The charity repopulated the empty warehouse with furniture.
The charity repopulated the empty village with new families.
repopulate must refer to living beings (people or animals), not objects or furniture.
She repopulated her apartment after moving in.
The region was repopulated after the earthquake.
repopulate implies restoring a community or population at scale, not moving into a single home.

2. (of a species of plant or animal) to increase in number through reproduction so

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

(of a species of plant or animal) to increase in number through reproduction so that the population recovers after a sharp decline or local disappearance

Example

After the forest fire, rangers released rabbits and other animals to help repopulate the area.

help repopulate + area + with + species

The salmon population is slowly repopulating the river now that the dam has been removed.

intransitive: species + repopulate + place

Common collocations
  • repopulate the river
  • repopulate the forest
  • repopulate the wetland
  • help repopulate
  • naturally repopulate
  • slowly repopulating
Synonyms
  • replenish

    broader — can apply to resources (not just living things) and often implies adding quantity rather than restoring through breeding

  • restock

    more practical and immediate — e.g. putting fish back in a lake; less focus on natural reproduction

Antonyms
  • deplete

    to reduce the number of individuals in a population

  • die out

    a phrasal verb meaning to become locally or globally extinct

Grammar Patterns

species + repopulate + place

repopulate + place + with + species

help repopulate + place

Usage Note

Subject is usually a species name or type (birds, fish, trees). When used transitively with a human agent (e.g. 'scientists repopulated the forest'), it implies active conservation work such as breeding and releasing, not just natural recovery.

Common Mistakes

The zoo repopulated the lion by buying a new lion from another zoo.
The zoo helped repopulate the lion species through a breeding programme.
repopulate implies reproduction over time, not relocating single individuals.
Farmers repopulated the field with wheat seeds every spring.
Farmers replanted the field with wheat seeds every spring.
repopulate is for animals, not crops or plants grown by humans.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four verbs describe bringing people back to a place — but with different emphases. Resettle is the closest synonym and focuses on the practical act of establishing new homes; a government might resettle refugees after a war. Recolonise is more formal and often carries imperial or territorial overtones — think of birds recolonising an island or a political power reasserting control over land. Repeople is a rare literary word that simply means 'to fill with people again', like restoring a mythical abandoned kingdom in a novel. Rehabilitate has a broader meaning (restoring something to good condition), but is sometimes used for bringing people back to a degraded area — e.g. rehabilitating former industrial land for housing. Use repopulate when the core idea is restoring a community or species to a place it once inhabited, especially after a disaster or decline. Example: 'After the earthquake, the government resettled families in safer towns further inland.' 'The same species of birds recolonised the cliffs a decade after the oil spill was cleaned up.'

resettlerecoloniserepeoplerehabilitate

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • begin to repopulate
  • help repopulate
  • try to repopulate
  • hope to repopulate
  • in an attempt to repopulate

Prepositions

  • repopulate with
  • repopulated by

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Repopulate is formed by adding the prefix re- (meaning 'again' or 'back to a previous state') to the verb populate, which comes from Latin populus, meaning 'people'. The word first appeared in English in the mid-1600s, at a time when diseases, wars, and famines had left many towns and regions nearly empty, so people needed a word for 'filling them with inhabitants again'.

First known use

1588

1588, in the meaning defined above