populous

«populous» in Mova's school dictionary: A populous place has a lot of people living in it — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (populous, more populous, most populous)

meaning for a pupil

A populous place has a lot of people living in it. tree →

sense in the lessons

In geography lessons, China and India are the most populous countries, and Lagos and Tokyo are among the most populous cities; maps of population density show populous areas darker. In maths, «the most populous» means the one with the biggest number of people. Common phrases: «the most populous country», «a populous city», «densely populous» (rare; «densely populated» is common).

examples

• India is now the most populous country in the world. tree →
• California is the most populous state in the USA. tree →
• New South Wales is Australia's most populous state. tree →
• London is a populous city. tree →
• The north of the island is less populous than the south. tree →
• Which is the most populous continent? Asia. tree →
• Then this wicked enchantress changed the capital, which was a very populous and flourishing city, into the lake and desert plain you saw. tree →

note

Homophone trap: «populous» (adjective: having many people) sounds exactly like «populace» (noun: the ordinary people of a country). Also common: «densely populated». In maths, «more populous» means a larger population number, not a larger area.

In the corpora

• India and China are the two most populous countries, each with about 1.4 billion people, and India overtook China around 2023.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «populous» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.