pop·u·la·tion (p?p?y?-l??sh?n)n.1. a. All of the people inhabiting a specified area.b. The total number of such people.2. The total number of inhabitants constituting a particular race, class, or group in a specified area.3. The act or process of furnishing with inhabitants.4. Ecology All the organisms of a given species interacting in a specified area.5. Statistics The set of individuals, items, or data from which a statistical sample is taken. Also called universe.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.population (?p?pj??le???n) n1. (sometimes functioning as plural) all the persons inhabiting a country, city, or other specified place2. the number of such inhabitants3. (sometimes functioning as plural) all the people of a particular race or class in a specific area: the Chinese population of San Francisco. 4. the act or process of providing a place with inhabitants; colonization5. (Environmental Science) ecology a group of individuals of the same species inhabiting a given area6. (Astronomy) astronomy either of two main groups of stars classified according to age and location. Population I consists of younger metal-rich hot white stars, many occurring in galactic clusters and forming the arms of spiral galaxies. Stars of population II are older, the brightest being red giants, and are found in the centre of spiral and elliptical galaxies in globular clusters7. (Statistics) statistics Also called: universe the entire finite or infinite aggregate of individuals or items from which samples are drawnCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014pop?u?la?tion (?p?p y??le? ??n) n. 1. the total number of persons inhabiting a country, city, or any district or area. 2. the body of inhabitants of a place. 3. the number or body of inhabitants of a particular race, class, or group in a place: the working-class population. 4. any aggregation of things or individuals subject to statistical study. 5. a. the assemblage of organisms living in a given area. b. all the individuals of one species in a given area. 6. the act or process of populating. [1570?80;