simple past tense and past participle of populate
"The village was populated by a small group of farmers in the early 1900s."
In plain English: To populate means to fill an empty space with people, animals, or things so it is no longer vacant.
"The newly built town is rapidly populated by young families moving from the city."
furnished with inhabitants
"the area is well populated"
"forests populated with all kinds of wild life"
That has, or supplied with, inhabitants or content.
"The newly discovered island was quickly populated by explorers seeking fresh land."
In plain English: Populated means that there are people living somewhere.
"The village was not populated, so we drove through without seeing any people."
Usage: Use "populated" to describe places that have residents rather than abstract concepts like data sets, which should be described as containing items instead of being populated by them. This adjective specifically refers to physical locations filled with people, distinguishing it from synonyms used for digital environments.