populous

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UK/ˈpɒpjʊləs/US/ˈpɑpjələs/South Asia/ˈpɔp(j)ʊləs/

adjective

Having a large population.

“The Nile delta is a populous region.”

Similar
thickly settledinhabited
OriginLatin populosus →
Less commonScrabble 12
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Meanings

adjectivepopulous (comparative more populous, superlative most populous)

comparative more populous · superlative most populous

  1. Having a large population.

    China is the most populous country in the world.

  2. Spoken by a large number of people.

    Chinese is the most populous language.

    1 more example

    The Sino-Tibetan family includes Mandarin, the most populous language in the world, spoken by more than one billion Chinese.

    1974, Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina M. Hyams, An Introduction to Language, →ISBN, page 524
  3. Densely populated.

    The Nile delta is a populous region.

  4. Crowded with people.

    Airport departure halls are often populous places during the rush hours.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivedensely populated

Similar
thickly settledinhabited

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinpopulosus“full of people, populous”
  2. Englishpopulous

First used in English in the mid 15th century; from Latin populosus (“full of people, populous”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Basque jendetsu
  • jendetsuhaving a large population
Bulgarian многолюден, гъсто населен
  • многолюден (mnogoljuden)having a large population
  • гъсто населен (găsto naselen)densely populated
Catalan populós
  • populóshaving a large population
Chinese Mandarin 人口稠密, 人口多
  • 人口稠密 (rénkǒu chóumì)having a large population
  • 人口多 (rénkǒu duō)having a large population
Finnish väkirikas, runsasväkinen
  • väkirikashaving a large population
  • runsasväkinenhaving a large population
  • tiheästi asuttudensely populated
  • ruuhkainencrowded with people
French populeux
  • populeuxhaving a large population
German volkreich, bevölkerungsreich
  • volkreichhaving a large population
  • bevölkerungsreichhaving a large population
  • bevölkerthaving a large population
  • häufig gesprochenspoken by a large number of people
  • weit verbreitetspoken by a large number of people
  • dichtbevölkertdensely populated
  • (dicht) bevölkertdensely populated
  • (dicht) besiedeltdensely populated
  • menschenüberfülltcrowded with people
Greek πολυάνθρωπος, πυκνοκατοικημένος
  • πολυάνθρωπος (polyánthropos)having a large population
  • πυκνοκατοικημένος (pyknokatoikiménos)densely populated
Italian popoloso, popolosa
  • popolosohaving a large population
  • popolosahaving a large population
Japanese 人口の多い
  • 人口の多い (jinkō-no ōi)having a large population
Latin celeber, celeber
  • celeberdensely populated
  • celebercrowded with people
Norwegian Bokmål folkerik, befolkningsrik
  • folkerikhaving a large population
  • befolkningsrikhaving a large population
Polish ludny
  • ludnyhaving a large population
Portuguese populoso
  • populosohaving a large population
Russian густонаселённый, многолю́дный
  • густонаселённый (gustonaseljónnyj)having a large population
  • многолю́дный (mnogoljúdnyj)having a large population
Spanish poblado, populoso
  • pobladohaving a large population
  • populosohaving a large population
Swedish folkrik
  • folkrikhaving a large population
Vietnamese đông, đông đảo
  • đônghaving a large population
  • đông đảohaving a large population
Welsh poblog
  • pobloghaving a large population

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

populace (most accents)
Cite this entry
APA

populous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/populous

MLA

“populous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/populous. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “populous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/populous.

Source: populous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.