populace

noun

pop·u·lace ˈpä-pyə-ləs

Synonyms of populace next

: the common people : masses

: population

Did you know?

Populace is usually used to refer to all the people of a country. Thus, we're often told that an educated and informed populace is essential for a healthy American democracy. Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous radio "Fireside Chats" informed and reassured the American populace in the 1930s as we struggled through the Great Depression. We often hear about what "the general populace" is thinking or doing, but generalizing about something so huge can be tricky.

Examples of populace in a Sentence

The populace has suffered greatly. high officials awkwardly mingling with the general populace

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Meanwhile, the birth rate has dipped to just 1.4 children per woman, portending a shrinking, aging populace. —

By Charlie Campbell/gelephu, Bhutan, TIME, 16 Jan. 2025 Now Maduro is determined that the populace that humiliated him on election day must pay. —

Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 21 Dec. 2024 And like many Simpsons episodes, this one has great fun observing the populace falling for a grandiose hard-sell, this one tinged with subliminal mind-control techniques. —

Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2024 When your team is playing in primetime, the entire football-watching populace is watching your team. —

Nick Suss, The Tennessean, 6 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for populace

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French, "mob, rabble," borrowed from Italian popolazzo, popolaccio "the common people, the masses, rabble, mob," from popolo people entry 1 + -azzo, -accio, augmentative and pejorative suffix, going back to Latin -āceus -aceous

Note: The extension of -āceus to nouns, through deletion of the modified head noun, takes place already in Latin (see note at -aceous), and continued into Italian—compare focaccia "flatbread," already attested in Late Latin, from Latin focus "hearth." At some point the notion of appurtenance or similarity appears to have led to that of devaluation, whence the application of the Italian suffix to things of inappropriately large size or inferior quality. The derivatives popolazzo and popolaccio show both the Tuscan outcome -accio and a variant -azzo that represents the outcome of -āceus in Upper Italian or southern Italian dialects.

First Known Use

1572, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of populace was in 1572

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Populace.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/populace. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Copy Citation

Kids Definition

populace

noun

pop·u·lace ˈpäp-yə-ləs

: the common people : masses

: population sense 1

Last Updated: 22 Jan 2025 - Updated example sentences

Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the Day

opine

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

populace

noun

Did you know?

Synonyms

Examples of populace in a Sentence

Word History

Dictionary Entries Near populace

Cite this Entry

Kids Definition