: the ordinary people in a country who do not have special power or privileges
She is well-liked as a senator because she listens to the people.
the common people
US, law
—used to refer to the government of the U.S. or of a particular state in the name of a legal case
The People vs. John Doe
Examples of the people in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Minho Kim, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2025
The real victims here are the people who follow the law — the hardworking families, the mothers, the fathers, the children — who will be forced to live alongside dangerous individuals because of some radical, utopian experiment gone wrong.
—Ryan Nawrocki, Baltimore Sun, 10 Mar. 2025
A number of the people with spoke with for this article note how key returnability has become to getting projects off the page and into production.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 10 Mar. 2025
But almost none of this food was available for consumption by the people who produced it.
—Fintan O'Toole, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for the people
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Noun
Rather, the administration’s rationale is that the protests that Mr. Khalil played a key part in were antisemitic and created a hostile environment for Jewish students at Columbia, the people with knowledge of the matter said.
—Minho Kim, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2025
The real victims here are the people who follow the law — the hardworking families, the mothers, the fathers, the children — who will be forced to live alongside dangerous individuals because of some radical, utopian experiment gone wrong.
—Ryan Nawrocki, Baltimore Sun, 10 Mar. 2025
A number of the people with spoke with for this article note how key returnability has become to getting projects off the page and into production.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 10 Mar. 2025
But almost none of this food was available for consumption by the people who produced it.
—Fintan O'Toole, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for the people
Cite this Entry
“The people.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20people. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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