Meaning of people in English

people

noun [ plural ]
uk ​ /ˈpiː.pəl/ us ​ /ˈpiː.pəl/

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
sb's people informal

› the people someone is related to:

Her people come from Scotland originally.

More examples

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

Grammar

Man, mankind or people? …
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/

Grammar

Man, mankind or people? …
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" in American English

peopleplural noun
us ​ /ˈpi·pəl/

people plural noun (PERSONS)

› 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.
peoplenoun [ C ]
us ​ /ˈpi·pəl/

people noun [ C ] (NATION)

› a culture or nation:

It is a custom shared by many Native American peoples.
peopleverb [ 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" in Business English

peoplenoun [ plural ]
uk ​ /ˈpiːpl/ us ​

› 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”

These examples are from the Cambridge English Corpus 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.

This is not to say, it must be noted, that interference with people's disvaluable goals is necessarily permitted.
From Cambridge English Corpus
Sounds, visual images, and faces remind the players of people or events of the past.
From Cambridge English Corpus
Only quick action would transfer people from relief to work as the president wanted.
From Cambridge English Corpus
What sort of disputes did ordinary people bring to court?
From Cambridge English Corpus
Even ordinary people are beginning to regard them as robots.
From Cambridge English Corpus
I chose it because it is recent, brief and relevant to ordinary people.
From Cambridge English Corpus
This is surprising, given that questions of revenue generation affect ordinary people in basic and sometimes very serious ways.
From Cambridge English Corpus
Readers are teachers or teachers in training, high school or normal school students, potential lawyers, businessmen, or "ordinary" people.
From 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 Cambridge English Corpus
He is also one of the world's most recognised, and recognisable, physically challenged people.
From 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 Cambridge English Corpus
Most extraordinarily, there appears to be no research on what mentally or physically disabled people themselves prefer as respite care.
From 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 Cambridge English Corpus
People from this region have produced a relatively small number of music technology-related publications.
From Cambridge English Corpus
Any categorisation of chronological age obscures the physiological, psychological and social diversity of older people.
From Cambridge English Corpus

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