POPULATED Synonyms: 8 Similar and Opposite Words

populated

verb

past tense of populate

as in inhabited

to supply with inhabitants a small island populated only by woodland creatures

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of populated Parks and gardens are woven into every neighborhood; check out the shocking-pink Portland Street micro park spliced between tenements in Yau Ma Tei; Victoria Park in Causeway Bay; and Kowloon Park, which has a lake populated by real-life flamingos. — Lee Cobaj, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Oct. 2026 The area is sparsely populated with private estates set atop hills or within canyons, making firefighting access difficult. — Tom Tapp, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2026 Early on, Sakurai exploits the inherent absurdity of telling a story populated by so many ludicrous characters. — Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026 Rubio’s idea of the West is both messier and simpler, populated by muscular explorers and conquerors, from Alexander the Great and the Frankish king Charlemagne to the conquistador Hernán Cortés and the frontiersmen of the American West. — Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026 Dante populated his realms of Hell and Purgatory with figures, monsters and moral frameworks borrowed directly from classical Greek and Roman myths. — Ed Meza, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026 And in a world increasingly populated by people who are absolutely certain that everyone who disagrees with them is either ignorant or immoral, our universities could use considerably more of all three. — Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Sun Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2026 With few exceptions, Marvel’s Disney+ era has been populated with inessential stories stretched to TV length that better resemble movies. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 12 Oct. 2026 The dressing room was now populated by brightly dressed women, all of whom looked up from applying makeup to stare tightly at her in the doorframe. — Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for populated

inhabited

Verb

For those unfamiliar with Fielder’s career or filmmaking approach, his assent to award season hopeful — even frontrunner — has felt like welcoming a strange alien to a planet inhabited by the slick Hollywood establishment.

— Zoe Sottile, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2026
First built in 1668 for the sea captain John Turner, The House of the Seven Gables was later inhabited by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of inhabited

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populate

populated

populates

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“Populated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/populated. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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