populate

verb

(transitive) To supply with inhabitants; to people.

(transitive) To live in; to inhabit.

(intransitive) To increase in number; to breed.

(computing, ambitransitive) To fill initially empty items in a collection.

(electronics) To fill initially empty slots or sockets on a circuit board or similar.

adjective

(obsolete) populous

Roots

populuspopul- · Latin · people

Synonyms for populate

inhabitv colonizev occupyv residev

Synonyms & related words for populate

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of populate — including inhabit, colonize, occupy, reside. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to populate

Explore words related to populate — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include repeople, repopulate, underpopulated, peopled, overpopulate, dispeople, inhabitability, inhabitants. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for populate

Common synonyms for populate include inhabit, colonize, occupy, reside — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does populate come from?

The word populate breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root popul-, from Latin populus (“people”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.