people
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈpiːpəl/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈpipəl/, /ˈpipl̩/, [ˈpʰipɫ̩]
Noun

people

  1. Used as plural of person; a body of human beings considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons.
    Synonyms: peeps, lede, leod
    Why do so many people commit suicide?
    • c. 1607, plaque recording the Bristol Channel floods:
      XXII people was in this parrish drownd.
  2. (countable) Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc.
    Synonyms: collective, community, congregation, folk
    • 1966, Dick Tuck, Concession Speech:
      The people have spoken, the bastards.
  3. A group of persons regarded as being employees, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler.
    Synonyms: fans, groupies, supporters
    • 1611, Old Testament, King James Version, 2 Books of Samuel 8:15:
      And David reigned over all Israel; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people.
    • 1952, Old Testament, Revised Standard Version, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Book of Isaiah 1:3:
      The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand.
  4. One's colleagues or employees.
  5. A person's ancestors, relatives or family.
    Synonyms: kin, kith, folks
    My people lived through the Black Plague and the Thirty Years War.
  6. The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens.
    Synonyms: populace, commoners, citizenry
  7. plural form of person.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

people (peoples, present participle peopling; past and past participle peopled)

  1. (transitive) To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people; to populate.
    • 1674, John Dryden, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100615070614/http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/stateinn.html The State of Innocence and the Fall of Man], Act II, Scene I:
      He would not be alone, who all things can; / But peopled Heav'n with Angels, Earth with Man.
  2. (intransitive) To become populous or populated.
  3. (transitive) To inhabit; to occupy; to populate.
    • ante 1645 John Milton, Il Penseroso, lines 7–8:
      […] / As thick and numberless / As the gay motes that people the Sun Beams, / […]
Translations
  • French: peupler
  • German: bevölkern
  • Italian: popolare con
  • Portuguese: povoar
  • Russian: населя́ть
  • Spanish: poblar con
Translations
  • French: se peupler
  • Portuguese: povoar-se
  • Spanish: poblarse
Translations


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