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Glite Dictionary
to overpopulate

to overpopulate

8 5.4
Cause a place to have too many people or animals living there so it becomes crowded and cannot support them
  • verb
  • /ˌoʊvərˈpɒpjuleɪt/
translation icon : sobrecargar
  • Urban school settings are frequently underfunded, understaffed, and overpopulated.

They start creating databases, they start overpopulating their jails.

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Examples

  • The poor and the unemployed live in overpopulated shantytowns, a condition characterized by need, hunger, and hopelessness.

    Academic text (1995)

  • This country is overpopulated, Doctor.

    The First Purge (2018)

  • And the world is overpopulated.

    Nine Months (1995)

  • In fact, since the 1920s, the area has often been declared overpopulated.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Canadian geese are grossly overpopulated due to poor management by the US Fish and Wildlife Management Service.

    Blog text (22)

  • Cities around the world are struggling to cope as they continue to overpopulate.

  • If we do not take action now, our cities will overpopulate and resources will become scarce.

  • The lack of natural predators in this region has caused deer to overpopulate the area.

Synonyms

to overrun
vsto overpopulate
38 4.8

Fill a place in large numbers and damage things

leads to too many residents or animals making the area crowded and unsustainable
to overcrowd
vsto overpopulate
1 4.1

To make a place too full by putting too many people or things in it

causes long-term unsustainable crowding with people or animals living there
to oversaturate
vsto overpopulate
1 6.5

Fill a market or area with too much of something so people lose interest

means instead causing too many living beings, making the place unsustainable

How Crowded

to overpopulate
8 5.4
to fill
∞ 1.0
to populate
106 3.7

Surface Forms

overpopulate infinitive
overpopulated past
overpopulated past participle
overpopulating present participle
overpopulates third person singular

Morphology

overpopulate = populate (transparent) = over + populate

The productive prefix 'over-' meaning 'excessively' combines directly with the verb 'populate' to mean 'to populate excessively', which is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

Overpopulate combines over- which means 'too much' and populate, related to population meaning 'people'. So to overpopulate a place is to put 'too many people' or animals there, making it crowded and hard to support.