populous
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
having a large number of people living in a place.
containing a large population; having many inhabitants.
Simple“Java is the most populous island in the world, with over 140 million people.”
In context“The government struggled to provide adequate infrastructure for its most populous provinces during the period of rapid urbanisation.”
UsageUsually placed before a noun or after a linking verb like 'is'.
PitfallTokyo is a very population city. Tokyo is a very populous city.Use the adjective 'populous' to describe the place, and the noun 'population' to talk about the number of people.
- 02 C1 Advanced
full of people or very crowded.
densely populated or crowded with people.
Simple“The populous streets of the market were full of noise and colour.”
In context“He found the populous corridors of the terminal overwhelming after spending a month in the quiet countryside.”
Teacher's tipIn modern English, 'crowded' is much more common for physical spaces; 'populous' is usually reserved for formal or academic talk about statistics.
First used in English in the mid 15th century; from Latin populosus (“full of people, populous”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.