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peo·ple | \ ˈpē-pəl 
\
\ plural people
Definition of people
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 plural : human beings making up a group or assembly or linked by a common interest
2 plural : human beings, persons —often used in compounds instead of personssalespeople —often used attributivelypeople skills
3 plural : the members of a family or kinship
4 plural : the mass of a community as distinguished from a special class disputes between the people and the nobles —often used by Communists to distinguish Communists from other people
5 plural peoples : a body of persons that are united by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship, that typically have common language, institutions, and beliefs, and that often constitute a politically organized group
6 : lower animals usually of a specified kind or situation
7 : the body of enfranchised citizens of a state
people
verbpeopled; peopling\ ˈpē-p(ə-)liŋ \
\Definition of people (Entry 2 of 2)
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Other Words from people
Noun
peopleless \ ˈpē-pə(l)-ləs \ adjective
\ adjective
Examples of people in a Sentence
Noun People can be really cruel sometimes. People think the coach should be fired. She tends to annoy people. People say it's impossible, but I'm still going to try. a book for young people a people who migrated across the Bering Strait the native peoples of Mexico Verb a science-fiction novel about a mission to people Mars
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun More than 5,000 people had been deemed recovered, Nez said. — Chelsea Curtis, The Arizona Republic, "'Alarming rise' in COVID-19 cases around Navajo Nation leads to more weekend curfews," 2 July 2020 The city council of Madeira, an affluent city where Black people comprise just 1.4 percent of the population, approved the racial-equity initiative on June 8. — Jeanne Houck, The Enquirer, "Madeira's top cop calls for unity as signs thanking officers follow city approval of racial-equity push," 2 July 2020 In New Jersey, where cases had been declining since late April, Gov. Phil Murphy announced a pause on Monday, in part because of people not wearing masks and social distancing. — Fox News, "Philadelphia issues travel advisory for 15 states seeing spikes in coronavirus cases," 2 July 2020 Choosing not to follow the lead of two of their neighboring counties, they at first gently and then more strongly urged people to adopt the practice to halt the spread of COVID-19. — Shari Rudavsky, The Indianapolis Star, "Elkhart County mandates masks as coronavirus cases rise," 2 July 2020 People who are young and healthy may be more willing to risk exposure than the elderly or people with underlying conditions, Remington said. — Asha Prihar, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Small parties aren't necessarily safe, and other things to know about celebrating July Fourth during a pandemic," 2 July 2020 Officials in New York, Michigan and California enacted new measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, zeroing in on bars and restaurants as a possible source of transmission as the number of cases rises among young people. — Talal Ansari And David Hall, WSJ, "Several States Focus on Bars, Restaurants as Virus Risk," 2 July 2020 Those cuts will affect people in the bat factory, museum, and office in Louisville as well as at the company’s timber mills in Pennsylvania, H&B spokesman Rick Redman told The Courier Journal. — Alfred Miller, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville Slugger maker to cut its workforce in half during the coronavirus pandemic," 1 July 2020 Firefighters received reports that people may have been trapped inside the house. — Jay R. Jordan, Houston Chronicle, "Toddler, grandparents pulled from house fire in SE Houston," 1 July 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Protests have mostly been peopled by the young, those on college campuses and those who can take a day off to vent without bearing much consequence. — Sarah Haselhorst, Cincinnati.com, "The faces of protesters are mostly millennials: Who are they and what do they think?," 2 June 2020 In Maricopa County, 196 peopled are thought to have died from heat exposure last summer, up from 182 the year before. — Los Angeles Times, "Coronavirus could worsen death toll of summer heat waves, health officials warn," 5 May 2020 The upper part of the valley is well peopled, and many of the hills are cultivated high up. — Scientific American, "Elephants Appear as Far as the Eye Can See," 20 Apr. 2020 Inside, the small, low-ceilinged rooms are peopled with pilgrims. — Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, "Holding Virginia Woolf in Your Hands," 29 Jan. 2020 Most of the floors had at least a few offices with the lights on, at least some of them peopled with executives trying to figure out what to do now. — Greg Jefferson, ExpressNews.com, "Jefferson: Empty sidewalks, eerie silence on San Antonio’s River Walk amid coronavirus outbreak," 20 Mar. 2020 Both writers invented a place and, in novel after novel, peopled it with the same characters. — Edmund White, Harper's magazine, "Existential Noir," 6 Jan. 2020 The cybersecurity company partnered with Harris Poll to interview more than 2,000 peopled about their sentiments and tendencies surrounding digital spying. — Dalvin Brown, USA TODAY, "Americans create fake social media accounts to cyberstalk spouses and exes, survey says," 12 Feb. 2020 Its universe is one peopled almost entirely with white men looking to out-alpha male one another — a fantasy of the 1960s and not a reflection of the actual era. — Barbara Vandenburgh, azcentral, "‘Ford v Ferrari’ is a well-oiled entertainment machine," 13 Nov. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'people.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
'People' vs. 'Persons'
'People' vs. 'Persons'
How to choose between two words that seem to mean the same thing
Dictionary Entries near people
See More Nearby EntriesStatistics for people
Last Updated
4 Jul 2020
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Cite this Entry
“People.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/people. Accessed 7 Jul. 2020.
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More Definitions for people
people
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of people
(Entry 1 of 2)
: individual human beings
: human beings as a group : all or most people
: a group of people who share a quality, interest, etc.
people
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of people (Entry 2 of 2)
formal
of people : to live or be in (a place)
: to put people in (something, such as a story)
See the full definition for people in the English Language Learners Dictionary
people
nounpeo·ple | \ ˈpē-pəl \
\ plural people or peoples
Kids Definition of people
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : all persons considered together “Love makes people act crazy.”— Pam Zollman, Don't Bug Me!
2 : a group of human beings who have something in common young people the people of Montana
Hint: The word people is often used in compounds instead of persons. salespeople
3 : a body of persons making up a race, tribe, or nation the peoples of Asia
people
verbpeopled; peopling
Kids Definition of people (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : to fill with human beings or a certain type of human beings … her little world was peopled with imaginary friends …— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
2 : to dwell on or in Farmers people this part of the state.
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Time Traveler for people
The first known use of people was in the 13th century
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