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people

UK/ˈpiː.pəl/ US/ˈpi.pəl/ very common informal
noun (4) verb (2)

noun

1.

(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively

  • “old people”
  • “there were at least 200 people in the audience”
2.

the body of citizens of a state or country

  • “the Spanish people”
Synonyms
3.

the common people generally

  • “separate the warriors from the mass”
  • “power to the people”
Synonyms
4.

members of a family line

  • “his people have been farmers for generations”
  • “are your people still alive?”

verb

1.

fill with people or supply with inhabitants

  • “people a room”
  • “The government wanted to populate the remote area of the country”
Synonyms
2.

make one''s home or live in

  • “She resides officially in Iceland”
  • “I live in a 200-year old house”
  • “These people inhabited all the islands that are now deserted”
  • “The plains are sparsely populated”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English puple, peple, peeple, from Anglo-Norman people, from Old French pueple, peuple, pople, from Latin populus (“a people, nation”), from Old Latin populus, from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos, from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”) of unknown origin. Doublet of pueblo. Gradually ousted native English lede and, partially, folk. Originally used with singular verbs (e.g. "the people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness" in the King James Version of 2 Samuel 17:29), the plural aspect of people is probably due to influence from Middle English lede, leed, a plural since Old English times; see lēode.

Phrases

  • abbot of the people Terms derived from people
  • all things to all people Terms derived from people
  • bag people Terms derived from people
  • beaker people Terms derived from people
  • beautiful people Terms derived from people
  • black people's time Terms derived from people
  • boat people Terms derived from people
  • bright young people Terms derived from people

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.