Dictionary

populace en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɒpjʊləs/ (UK)
• päpʹyə-ləs (US)
• /ˈpɑpjələs/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈpɔp(j)ʊles/ (South-Asia)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French populace, from Italian popolaccio, from popolo + -accio (“pejorative suffix”), from Latin populus.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The common people of a nation.
   • The populace despised their ignorant leader.
   • Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
2. (countable, uncountable) The inhabitants of a country or one of its administrative divisions (such as a state, province, or county).
   • Thomas Brassey (1805-70) should be equally famous, yet he is unknown to swathes of the greater populace. His plaque is at Chester. 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 57:

Forms

Deriveds

populicide

Synonyms

riff-raff (common people of a nation) · rabble (common people of a nation) · demos (common people of a nation) · population (inhabitants of a nation) · common people (common people of a nation) · hoi polloi (common people of a nation) · people (common people of a nation) · masses (common people of a nation) · inhabitants (inhabitants of a nation)

Translations (50)

de Pöbel (common people) · pa ਜਨਤਾ (common people) · tr cumhur (common people) · ml ജനം (common people) · fr populace (common people) · de breite Masse (common people) · pt povão (common people) · ar جُمْهُور (common people) · ru ма́ссы (common people) · fi rahvas (common people) · ru сброд (common people) · fi kansa (common people) · hi अवाम (common people) · bo མི་དམངས (common people) · hi जनता (common people) · it popolo (common people) · ur عَوام (common people) · ru толпа́ (common people) · ru просто́й наро́д (common people) · ca poble (common people) · de gemeine Volk (common people) · fr plèbe (common people) · hi जमहूर (common people) · ko 대중 (common people) · ja 庶民 (common people) · la populus (common people) · fr bas peuple (common people) · ar عَوَامّ (common people) · ru чернь (common people) · ja 民衆 (common people) · ko 민중 (common people) · ru простонаро́дье (common people) · kmr xelk (common people) · ur جَمْہُور (common people) · ar جَمَاهِير (common people) · cmn 庶民 (common people) · cmn 民眾 /民众 (common people) · ja 大衆 (common people) · pdt Bevelkjarunk (common people) · ko 서민 (common people) · ru бы́дло (common people) · fa-ira عَوام (common people) · eo popolamaso (common people) · es populacho (common people) · it pubblico (common people) · cmn 齊民 /齐民 (common people) · nl plebs (common people) · fa-ira جُمْهور (common people) · pt povo (common people) · es pueblo (common people)