[pop.u.la.tion] n [LL population-, populatio, fr. L populus] (1612) 1 a: the whole number of people or inhabitants in a country or region b: the total of individuals occupying an area or making up a whole c: the total of particles at a particular energy level--used esp. of atoms in a laser
2: the act or process of populating 3 a: a body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common b (1): the organisms inhabiting a particular locality (2): a group of interbreeding organisms that represents the level of organization at which speciation begins
4: a group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples are taken for statistical measurement -- pop.u.la.tion.al adj