populous
adjective
pop·u·lous
ˈpä-pyə-ləs 
1
a
: densely populated
b
: having a large population
2
a
: numerous
b
: filled to capacity
populously
adverb
populousness
noun
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With a metropolitan area of more than 20 million people, Mexico City could be called the world's second or third most populous city. And the nearby Aztec city of Tenochtitlán was one of the largest cities in the world even when Hernán Cortés arrived there in 1519. But by the time Cortés conquered the city in 1521 it wasn't nearly so populous, since European diseases had greatly reduced the population. Avoid confusing populous and populace, which are pronounced exactly the same.
Examples of populous in a Sentence
the most populous state in the U.S.
Recent Examples on the Web
Blaming big firms seems a populous desire to make the administration look like caring about home prices and doing something about affordability, but ignoring real drivers of housing costs and actual problems caused by overregulation, development restrictions and compounding fees.
—
Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Jan. 2026
Energy-rich Iran is one of the Middle East’s most populous and ethnically diverse countries, with more than 90 million people and a vast territory bordering the Persian Gulf.
—Jeremy Diamond, CNN Money, 14 Jan. 2026
Gail Rubino, a resident at the El Dorado Mobile Home Park in Sunnyvale, said at least 36 parks in six of the state’s most populous counties will be affected by the new law.
—Calmatters, Oc Register, 14 Jan. 2026
The approval allows the nation's most populous state to temporarily stop using a nonpartisan commission to draw congressional district boundaries.
—Terry Collins, USA Today, 14 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Populous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/populous. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
Kids Definition
populous
adjective
pop·u·lous
ˈpäp-yə-ləs
: having a large population
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