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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#m1)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x1)
- California is the most populous state in the USA. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x2)
- New South Wales is Australia's most populous state. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x3)
- London is a populous city. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x4)
- The north of the island is less populous than the south. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x5)
- Which is the most populous continent? Asia. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x6)
- Then this wicked enchantress changed the capital, which was a very populous and flourishing city, into the lake and desert plain you saw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/#x7)

### 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.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/24-population-and-cities/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «populous» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/populous/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.