POPULATION

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does population mean? 

• POPULATION (noun)
  The noun POPULATION has 5 senses:

1. the people who inhabit a territory or state

2. a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a given area

3. (statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn

4. the number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.)

5. the act of populating (causing to live in a place)

  Familiarity information: POPULATION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POPULATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The people who inhabit a territory or state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

the population seemed to be well fed and clothed

Hypernyms ("population" is a kind of...):

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

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "population"):

home front (the civilian population (and their activities) of a country at war)

Derivation:

populate (be an inhabitant of or reside in)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a given area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

they hired hunters to keep down the deer population

Hypernyms ("population" is a kind of...):

group; grouping (any number of entities (members) considered as a unit)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "population"):

overpopulation (too much population)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

population; universe

Context example:

it is an estimate of the mean of the population

Hypernyms ("population" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "population"):

subpopulation (a population that is part of a larger population)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The number of inhabitants (either the total number or the number of a particular race or class) in a given place (country or city etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Context example:

the African-American population of Salt Lake City has been increasing

Hypernyms ("population" is a kind of...):

integer; whole number (any of the natural numbers (positive or negative) or zero)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The act of populating (causing to live in a place)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he deplored the population of colonies with convicted criminals

Hypernyms ("population" is a kind of...):

colonisation; colonization; settlement (the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies)

Derivation:

populate (fill with inhabitants)

 Context examples 

A tumor composed of at least two distinct cellular populations.

(Mixed Neoplasm, NCI Thesaurus)

The most common chromosome number within a population or sample.

(Modal Chromosome Number, NCI Thesaurus)

After binding to CD30, this agent interferes with the G1 phase of the cell cycle, thereby inducing growth arrest and apoptosis in susceptible tumor cell populations.

(Monoclonal Antibody SGN-30, NCI Thesaurus)

Patients with chronic ulcerative colitis are at a higher risk in developing appendiceal adenocarcinomas compared to the general population.

(Appendix Adenocarcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

An angiosarcoma occurring in the adult population.

(Adult Angiosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

About 12 percent of the U.S. population gets them.

(Migraine, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Also, there are areas where both winter brown and white individuals co-existed in the same populations.

(Twenty-one species adapted to disappear in the snow. Then, the snow disappeared, National Science Foundation)

The research group started with 80 individuals and then replicated their initial findings in two additional populations.

(International Research Team Finds Correlation Between Genetics and Obesity Is Modified by Diet, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Refers to having a disease or a symptom of disease, or to the amount of disease within a population.

(Morbidity, NCI Dictionary)

A similar volcanic eruption in Alaska in 2008 was found to be associated with an increase in the local salmon population.

(Scientists report skyrocketing phyotplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption, Wikinews)