population definition

English population definition

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɒpjʊˈleɪʃən/
• IPA^(key): /pɒpjuːˈleɪʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

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. (by extension) 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 town’s population is only 243.

   population explosion;  population growth

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.
   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.

   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.
   • 1883, Francis Galton et al., Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 269.

     […] it is possible it [the Anglo-Saxon race] might stand second to the Scandinavian countries [in average height] if a fair sample of their population were obtained.

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

Related terms

Translations

Danish population definition

Noun

population

1. (statistics) population

Declension

See also

• stikprøve (“sample”)

French population definition

Etymology

Borrowing from Late Latin populātiō, populātiōnem from Latin populus (“people”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.py.la.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

population f (plural populations)

1. population

Derived terms

• densité de population

Related terms

Further reading

• “population”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Interlingua population definition

Noun

population (plural populationes)

1. population