repopulate: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
C1Formal / Technical
Quick answer
What does “repopulate” mean?
To bring people or animals back to live in an area where the population has decreased or disappeared.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
To bring people or animals back to live in an area where the population has decreased or disappeared.
To fill something again with data, organisms, or inhabitants; to replenish or restore the population of a place or a system.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No major differences in meaning or usage. Spelling follows standard UK/US conventions (e.g., repopulate vs. repopulate – no difference).
Connotations
Neutral to positive in both varieties, associated with restoration and recovery projects.
Frequency
Slightly more frequent in British English in ecological contexts; equally used in tech contexts in both varieties.
Grammar
How to Use “repopulate” in a Sentence
repopulate [place]repopulate [place] with [organisms/people][place] is repopulated by/with [agents]Vocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “repopulate” in a Sentence
verb
British English
- The council hopes to repopulate the high street with independent shops.
- Conservationists plan to repopulate the moor with native curlews.
American English
- The city's initiative aims to repopulate downtown with young families.
- The program successfully repopulated the lake with trout.
adverb
British English
- [No standard adverb form. 'Repopulatingly' is non-standard and not used.]
American English
- [No standard adverb form.]
adjective
British English
- The repopulated village showed signs of new life.
- A repopulated database is essential for the new analysis.
American English
- The repopulated forest now has a healthy deer herd.
- We need a fully repopulated inventory before the audit.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Refers to refilling a customer database or rebuilding a workforce after layoffs.
Academic
Used in ecology, demography, history, and computer science to describe restoring populations.
Everyday
Rare in casual conversation; used when discussing wildlife projects or urban regeneration.
Technical
Key term in conservation biology (e.g., repopulate a forest with wolves) and data management (repopulate cache).
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “repopulate”
Vocabulary
Antonyms of “repopulate”
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “repopulate”
- Using 'repopulate' for the first-time settlement of a place (use 'populate' or 'settle').
- Misspelling as 're-populate' (though hyphenated form is occasionally seen).
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No, it's commonly used for animals in ecology and data/items in computing.
'Populate' means to fill initially or provide inhabitants. 'Repopulate' implies doing it again after a decline or emptiness.
Rarely. Its core meaning is restorative. Negative contexts would involve the agent (e.g., 'repopulate the area with invasive species').
The standard form is without a hyphen. A hyphen might be used in some style guides for clarity before a capitalized word (e.g., re-populate Europe), but solid 'repopulate' is preferred.
To bring people or animals back to live in an area where the population has decreased or disappeared.
Repopulate is usually formal / technical in register.
Repopulate: in British English it is pronounced /ˌriːˈpɒp.jə.leɪt/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˌriːˈpɑː.pjə.leɪt/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “[None directly associated]”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think 'RE-' (again) + 'POPULATE' (fill with people). Like pressing 'refresh' on a population.
Conceptual Metaphor
REPOPULATION IS REFILLING A CONTAINER. (The area/ecosystem is an empty vessel being filled again.)
Practice
Quiz
In which context is 'repopulate' used INCORRECTLY?