population

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus. Doublet of poblacion.

noun

1. The people living within a political or geographical boundary.
   The population of New Jersey will not stand for this!
2. (by extension) The people with a given characteristic.
   India has the third-largest population of English-speakers in the world.
3. A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.
   The town’s population is only 243.
   population explosion; population growth
4. (biology) A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area.
   A seasonal migration annually changes the populations in two or more biotopes drastically, many twice in opposite senses.
   Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe. 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3
5. (statistics) A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.
   […]it is possible it [the Anglo-Saxon race] might stand second to the Scandinavian countries [in average height] if a fair sample of their population were obtained. 1883, Francis Galton et al., “Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee”, in Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, page 269
6. (computing) The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.
   John clicked the Search button and waited for the population of the list to complete.