populated

populated — adjective

1. describes a town, country, or region where people make their homes and carry out

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

describes a town, country, or region where people make their homes and carry out their daily lives, so that the area is not empty or uninhabited.

Example

The coastal town is densely populated, with thousands of families living close together.

collocation: densely populated

Owen comes from a sparsely populated region in the north of his home country.

collocation: sparsely populated

Common collocations
  • densely populated
  • sparsely populated
  • heavily populated
  • lightly populated
  • populated by + [people/group]
  • populated with + [people/animals]
  • populated area
  • populated region
Synonyms
  • inhabited

    broader term: can describe any living creature's presence, not just humans

  • settled

    emphasises the process of people establishing a community in a new area

  • peopled

    formal or literary synonym; 'a land peopled by farmers'

Antonyms
  • uninhabited

    opposite meaning: having no residents at all

  • deserted

    implies that people once lived there but have left

  • unpopulated

    direct opposite; having no people living there

Grammar Patterns

be + adverb + populated

be + populated + by/with + noun_phrase

Usage Note

Commonly paired with intensifying adverbs such as 'densely', 'sparsely', 'heavily', or 'lightly' before the word. Can also be followed by 'by' or 'with' to specify the inhabitants.

Common Mistakes

The island is populated of many fishermen.
The island is populated by many fishermen.
Use 'by' (not 'of') to introduce the people or group that lives in a place.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three words describe an area where people live, but they differ in scope and tone. 'Inhabited' is the broadest term — it can refer to any living creature's presence (a cave inhabited by bears) and carries no emotional weight. 'Settled' focuses on the historical act of people moving in and building a community (a region settled by Scandinavian immigrants in the 19th century). 'Peopled' is more literary and formal, often used to evoke a vivid, descriptive picture (a valley peopled by shepherds and their flocks). For everyday neutral usage describing how many people live somewhere, 'populated' is the most natural choice.

inhabitedsettled ↗peopled

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • densely populated area
  • sparsely populated region
  • heavily populated city

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Derived from the Latin word 'populus' (people), which passed through 'populatus' into late Latin as 'populare' (to inhabit). The English verb 'populate' appeared in the 16th century, and its past participle 'populated' soon came to be used as an adjective describing a place that has people living in it.