population.

1. The inhabitants or organisms of a defined area or group considered together.

2. The total number of inhabitants or organisms in a defined area or group.

3. The complete set of cases or units about which a statistical analysis seeks to make statements.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• local population
• animal population

On the page

The local population included people with several different patterns of access to services.

The animal population was studied within a defined area rather than assumed to cover the whole species.

Usage notes

Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: Singular population; plural populations. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: social explanation, distributional analysis, population description, concept distinction. Disciplines: social science, economics, public policy. Commonness: moderately common.