peoples


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peo·ple

 (pē′pəl)
n. pl. people
1.
a. Humans considered as a group or in indefinite numbers. Often treated as a plural of person, alone and in compounds: People were dancing in the street. I met all sorts of people. This book is not intended for laypeople.
b. The mass of ordinary persons; the populace. Used with the: "those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes" (Thomas Jefferson).
2.
a. A body of persons living in the same country under one national government; a nationality.
b. The citizens of a political unit, such as a nation or state; the electorate. Used with the.
3. pl. peo·ples A body of persons sharing a common religion, culture, or language: the peoples of central Asia.
4.
a. Persons with regard to their residence, class, profession, or group: city people; farming people.
b. Persons subordinate to or loyal to a ruler, superior, or employer: The manager would like to introduce you to our people in the regional office.
c. A person's family, relatives, or ancestors: Where are your people from?
5. Informal Animals or other beings distinct from humans: Rabbits and squirrels are the furry little people of the woods.
tr.v. peo·pled, peo·pling, peo·ples
1. To settle or inhabit with people; populate.
2. To be present in or on (a place): "The stores ... are peopled by serious shoppers" (Perri Klass).

[Middle English peple, from Old French pueple, from Latin populus, of Etruscan origin.]

peo′pler n.
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.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.peoples - the human beings of a particular nation or community or ethnic group; "the indigenous peoples of Australia"
plural, plural form - the form of a word that is used to denote more than one
people - (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
Is the ferment of the peoples of the west at the end of the eighteenth century and their drive eastward explained by the activity of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, their mistresses and ministers, and by the lives of Napoleon, Rousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais, and others?
Many lands saw Zarathustra, and many peoples: thus he discovered the good and bad of many peoples.
And such a momentary impulse there is not, and there cannot be, in the case of the oppression of the Slavonic peoples."
I say then that such a principality is obtained either by the favour of the people or by the favour of the nobles.
WHEN the people of America reflect that they are now called upon to decide a question, which, in its consequences, must prove one of the most important that ever engaged their attention, the propriety of their taking a very comprehensive, as well as a very serious, view of it, will be evident.
Now, my father, my story winds back again as the river bends towards its source, and I tell of those events which happened at the king's kraal of Gibamaxegu, which you white people name Gibbeclack, the kraal that is called "Pick-out-the-old-men," for it was there that Chaka murdered all the aged who were unfit for war.
In this period they had witnessed the deadly struggle between the two parties, into which the people of the United Provinces, after their separation from the crown of Spain, had divided themselves.
The first month I spent in finding accommodations for the school, and in travelling through Alabama, examining into the actual life of the people, especially in the court districts, and in getting the school advertised among the glass of people that I wanted to have attend it.
For if liberty and equality, as some persons suppose, are chiefly to be found in a democracy, it must be most so by every department of government being alike open to all; but as the people are the majority, and what they vote is law, it follows that such a state must be a democracy.
As we swept on to the west, the Fire People far behind, a familiar scene flashed upon our eyes.
Johnson was far better known than Macpherson, most people agreed with him and believed that Macpherson had told a "literary lie," and that he had made up all the stories.
It is evident that no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America; with the fundamental principles of the Revolution; or with that honorable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government.