people
people — noun
1. human beings thought of together, not as one person at a time.
human beings thought of together, not as one person at a time.
People first came to the island by boat thousands of years ago.
people meaning humans in general
People often dream about falling after sleeping in a strange hotel.
Warm clothes helped people survive the long northern winter.
With clean water and vaccines, people now live much longer.
- people live longer
- people dream
- people survive
- ancient people
- humans
more factual or scientific in tone
- human beings
slightly more formal and explicit
- persons
formal or legal, often used in notices and reports
Usage Note
Usually takes a plural verb. Use peoples, not people, only when you mean several separate nations or ethnic groups.
Common Mistakes
2. used for everybody in general, and also for the group you are talking to.
used for everybody in general, and also for the group you are talking to.
At the night market, people wanted more tables near the soup stand.
people meaning everybody in general
"People, please keep your bags with you," the driver said.
direct address: People, ...
After a typhoon, people usually check on older neighbors first.
All right, people, let's finish the posters before lunch.
- people everywhere
- People, please ...
- all right, people
Grammar Patterns
People, ...
Usage Note
Common in speech when a speaker wants the attention of a group. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense often sounds like everybody or you all, not human beings as a species.
Common Mistakes
3. people in the same kind of job or area of activity.
people in the same kind of job or area of activity.
Museum people still talk about that stolen painting.
field noun + people
Radio people in Taipei still remember that late-night DJ.
Restaurant people in Taipei trade kitchen stories after the lunch rush.
Among theater people, opening night means safety pins and cold noodles.
- museum people
- radio people
- restaurant people
- theater people
- professionals
more formal and wider; does not suggest insider culture
- insiders
stresses being part of the inner group
- workers
broader and does not always mean the same field community
- outsiders
people not belonging to that work group
Grammar Patterns
museum people
radio people
Usage Note
Usually follows a noun naming the field, place, or industry. It suggests insiders who share work habits or knowledge, not simply all workers in a building.
Common Mistakes
4. ordinary citizens as distinct from rulers, officials, and other powerful groups.
ordinary citizens as distinct from rulers, officials, and other powerful groups.
The tax increase hurt ordinary people more than top officials.
ordinary people contrasted with officials
Outside city hall, people shouted while officials hurried past the gate.
The minister praised the plan, but people still paid higher bus fares.
A new city tax can hit working people hard.
- ordinary people
- listen to the people
- serve the people
- the public
common in news and official language
- ordinary citizens
explicitly contrasts them with leaders or elites
- the masses
more formal and can sound distant or critical
Usage Note
Common in politics, news, and public debate. Distinguish from sense 6: this sense contrasts citizens with those in power, rather than naming a nation or ethnic group.
Common Mistakes
5. your relatives, especially the family you come from.
your relatives, especially the family you come from.
Nina's people still live on the farm near Chiayi.
possessive noun + people for family
Raj called his people after the baby was born.
When Mei moved to Canada, her people sent dried fruit every winter.
Around midnight, Ben introduced Rosa to his people.
- my people
- his people
- meet her people
- strangers
people with no family connection
Grammar Patterns
my people
his people
Usage Note
Often used in friendly speech with my, your, his, or her. It is looser and warmer than relatives, and it may include the wider family, not only parents and children.
Common Mistakes
6. people who belong to the same country or share a language or culture.
people who belong to the same country or share a language or culture.
The Sami people have lived in the north for centuries.
group name + people
The Ainu people on Hokkaido still teach children the old songs.
The Korean people rebuilt the city after the war.
Grandfather's war stories help young people understand their people's past.
- the Sami people
- the Korean people
- the Ainu people
- nation
often stresses political identity or statehood
- ethnic group
stresses shared ancestry and culture
- population
more statistical and less cultural
Grammar Patterns
the Korean people
the Sami people
Usage Note
Often used with the plus a group name. Distinguish from sense 4: this sense names a national or cultural body, while sense 4 means ordinary citizens as opposed to those in power.
Common Mistakes
7. a whole society seen as one group with its own way of life.
a whole society seen as one group with its own way of life.
A people living between two rivers built its calendar around floods.
a people + singular verb
Over time, the desert tribe grew into a settled people.
After the invasion, a people carried its songs across three borders.
Over centuries, a people may lose its language and keep old laws.
- a people
- settled people
- a people remembers
- society
the nearest everyday equivalent
- community
can be smaller or more local in scope
- civilization
more formal and often broader in historical writing
- individual
one person considered alone rather than as part of a whole
Grammar Patterns
a people + singular verb
Usage Note
Mostly seen in history, politics, and social analysis. Distinguish from sense 6: this sense looks at a society's shared way of life, not simply the members of one nation or ethnicity.
Trying to make everyone happy by acting differently with each person.
A politician cannot be all things to all people and stay honest.
Why do you try to be all things to all men? It's impossible.
A person who understands and supports ordinary citizens.
The mayor is a woman of the people, always listening to complaints.
He was a man of the people, fighting for workers' rights.
of all people
idiomUsed to show that someone is the most or least likely person for a situation.
You of all people should understand why I'm upset.
Why would she, of all people, be chosen for the award?
You should not criticize others if you have similar faults yourself.
Don't mock his messy desk; people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
She complained about his lateness, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
people — verb
1. to put people into a place or organization so they live or work there.
to put people into a place or organization so they live or work there.
The railway peopled the valley with shopkeepers and miners.
people + place + with + group
Cheap flights soon peopled the beach town with new workers.
By 1900, the plain had been peopled by farming families.
passive: be peopled by + group
The company peopled its new office with local graduates.
- peopled by farming families
- people the valley with workers
- thinly peopled
- densely peopled
- depopulate
to remove people from a place or reduce its residents
- empty
plain opposite when a place no longer has people in it
Grammar Patterns
people + place + with + group
be peopled by + group
Usage Note
Rare and formal. The object is usually a place, and the sentence often adds with or by to name the group placed there. Modern English often prefers populate or staff.
Common Mistakes
Word family
- populationnounB1
- populateverbC1
- populousadjectiveC2
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
People is the normal everyday plural when you mean human beings in general. Humans is more factual or scientific, often used when comparing us with animals or machines. Persons is much more formal and appears especially in legal language, notices, and reports where exact counting matters. Folks is warm and informal, and in American English it is also common when speaking directly to a group. Humankind is broader and more abstract, pointing to the human race as a whole rather than to separate individuals. Say 'People are waiting outside' in ordinary speech, 'Two persons were injured' in a report, and 'Folks, dinner is ready' in friendly speech.
Common collocations
Etymology
People came into English through Anglo-French from Latin populus, a word for a nation, the public, or the common body of citizens. In Middle English it could name a whole community, and over time it also became the usual everyday plural partner of person. The verb sense grew later from the noun and means making a place inhabited or staffed by putting people there.