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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of people in English

people
noun [ plural ]
uk
/ˈpiː.pəl/ us
/ˈpiː.pəl/
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A1
men, women, and children:
Many people never do any exercise.
We've invited 30 people to our party.
used to refer to everyone, or informally to the group that you are speaking to:
People will think you've gone mad.
People like to be made to feel important.
Now that we've discussed our problems, are people happy with the decisions we've made?
men and women who are involved in a particular type of work:
We'll have to get the people at the city council to look at these plans.
Most of her friends are media people.
the people
C1
the large number of ordinary men and women who do not have positions of power in society:
She claims to be the voice of the people.
The president has lost the support of the people.
the people's Princess
someone's people informal
the people someone is related to:
Her people come from Scotland originally.
I prefer to live with my people.
His people have been in the fishing industry for generations.
Where do your people come from originally?
We married and I moved to live with her people.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
People in general
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Grammar

Man, mankind or people?
Traditionally, we use man to refer to all human beings, male and female, usually in contrast with other animals. However, many people consider this to be sexist, so it is better to use a different expression, such as human beings: …
Person, persons or people?
We use person in the singular to refer to any human being: …

Idioms

man/woman of the people
of all people
people
noun [ C ]
uk
/ˈpiː.pəl/ us
/ˈpiː.pəl/
all the men, women, and children who live in a particular country, or who have the same culture or language:
The French are known as a food-loving people.
a society:
Customs similar to this one are found among many peoples of the world.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Countries, nationalities & continents: country & nation
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Grammar

Man, mankind or people?
Traditionally, we use man to refer to all human beings, male and female, usually in contrast with other animals. However, many people consider this to be sexist, so it is better to use a different expression, such as human beings: …
Person, persons or people?
We use person in the singular to refer to any human being: …
(Definition of people from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

people | American Dictionary

people
plural noun
us
/ˈpi·pəl/

people plural noun (PERSONS)

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men, women, and children generally; pl ofperson:
There were a lot of people there.
Some people were hurt.
People can refer to a particular group mentioned:
young/old people
poor/rich people
Those people look as if they’re lost.
When you say the people, you mean the large number of ordinary men and women who do not have positions of power:
The president wanted to take his message directly to the people.
Note:
  • See the usage note at person.
people
noun [ C ]
us
/ˈpi·pəl/

people noun [C] (NATION)

a culture or nation:
It is a custom shared by many Native American peoples.
people
verb [ T ]
us
/ˈpi·pəl/

people verb [T] (PERSONS)

If a place is peopled by a particular type of people, they have moved there or live there:
Honolulu is peopled by native Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, white Americans, and others.
(Definition of people from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

people | Business English

people
noun [ plural ]
uk
/ˈpiːpl/ us
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HR
the people who work for a particular organization or person:
Firms need to keep investing both in infrastructure and their people.
Your people can talk to my people about percentages.
(Definition of people from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of people

people
This is not to say, it must be noted, that interference with people's disvaluable goals is necessarily permitted.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Sounds, visual images, and faces remind the players of people or events of the past.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Only quick action would transfer people from relief to work as the president wanted.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
What sort of disputes did ordinary people bring to court?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Even ordinary people are beginning to regard them as robots.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
I chose it because it is recent, brief and relevant to ordinary people.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This is surprising, given that questions of revenue generation affect ordinary people in basic and sometimes very serious ways.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Having become a mass profession, science was no longer suspected of becoming elitist and separated from the life and concerns of ordinary people.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Others are reputed physically to capture people and to lock them up in secret places until they can hand them over to their white masters.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Thus, it is possible that the individuals discussed in this article formed single-person households for the purposes of taxation, but physically lived with other people.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
People from this region have produced a relatively small number of music technology-related publications.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Any categorisation of chronological age obscures the physiological, psychological and social diversity of older people.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Many people with symptoms of psychological distress do not seek professional help.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The reasonable person standard enjoys a certain sort of objectivity, insofar as it protects people from each other.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Activities that have large starting capital requirements are pursued by relatively few people but yield lucrative returns.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with people

people

These are words often used in combination with people.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

able-bodied people
They faced higher nutritional stress since the bulk of farming had to be done by a limited number of able-bodied people.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
aboriginal people
This led to the significant erosion of the land base available to aboriginal people on which to pursue these traditional activities.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
civilized people
Gain and sustenance represent the value realized from labor among civilized people.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with people
What is the pronunciation of people?
 

Translations of people

in Chinese (Traditional)
人, 人們, 大家…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
人, 人们, 大家…
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in Spanish
personas, la gente, todo el mundo…
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in Portuguese
pessoas, gente, povo…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
लोक…
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人々, 国民, 民族…
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insanlar, halk, kişiler…
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personnes [feminine, plural], gens [masculine…
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persones, poble, gent…
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mensen, de mensen, men…
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ஆண்கள், பெண்கள் மற்றும் குழந்தைகள், அனைவரையும் குறிக்கப் பயன்படுகிறது…
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लोग, (समूह में सभी) लोग…
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પુરુષો, સ્ત્રીઓ અને બાળકો., લોકો…
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personer, folk…
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personer, folk, människor…
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orang, bangsa…
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die Leute (pl.), das Volk…
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folk [neuter, plural], personer [neuter…
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لوگ…
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люди, народ, нація…
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люди, народ, национальность…
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పురుషులు, స్త్రీలు, పిల్లలు…
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ناس, أُناس, شَعْب…
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মানুষ, পুরুষ, মহিলা এবং শিশু…
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osoby, lidé, lidstvo…
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orang, bangsa…
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บุคคล, คน, ประชากร…
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người, người dân, dân tộc…
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ludzie, naród, lud…
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사람들, 국민…
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persone, gente, popolo…
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people
people carrier
people meter
people mover BETA
people person

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gold leaf

UK
/ˌɡəʊld ˈliːf/
US
/ˌɡoʊld ˈliːf/

gold in the form of very thin sheets, often used to cover objects, such as decorative details in a building

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