peoplelessadj.
/ˈpiːp(ə)lləs/, U.S. /ˈpipə(l)ləs/ Having no people or population; uninhabited, unoccupied.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > [adjective] > not
unbiggedc1175
desert1297
void1338
desolatec1374
unhabited1490
inhabitable?1529
disinhabit1530
depopulate1531
uninhabita1540
unpeopled1547
undwelta1557
uninhabited1571
dishabited1577
dispeopled1577
unhabit1580
disinhabited1600
desertful1601
unmanned1609
inhabited1614
peopleless1621
deserted1629
depopulated1632
unhabitated1648
unseated1662
desolated1693
unpopulous1715
unsettled1724
unpopulated1776
bandless1862
populationless1885
unlived-in1927
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 115 Delos..once rich and populous, now poore and peoplelesse.
1643 T. Case Serm. in J. Kerr Covenants & Covenanters (1895) 248 Thy sword hath made many a faithful minister peopleless.
1855 Chambers's Jrnl. 4 185/1 All seemed as desolate and peopleless as when Ingolf first approached the island.
1870 Appletons' Jrnl. 17 Dec. 721/2 The two..sit upon a bench facing one of the broadest, and, as yet, peopleless paths.
1954 M. Beresford Lost Villages Eng. vi. 194 When Baron Vaux died in 1524 his possessions included the peopleless manor of Stantonbury.
1998 Jrnl. Amer. Hist. 85 1048/1 William Cronon evaluates our romantic construction of wilderness as a ‘peopleless landscape’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1621