Overpopulous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a population so large that it exceeds what the land, resources or housing can comfortably support
2. Describing a place or region crowded beyond a sustainable or comfortable number of residents
3. Containing more people than the area can reasonably sustain, leading to strain on services and living space

Etymology: "Overpopulous" is a plain compound: the prefix "over-", meaning excessively or beyond what is proper, joined to "populous," which comes from Latin "populosus," meaning "full of people," itself built on "populus," the people. Put together, the adjective describes a place or region with too many inhabitants for its resources or comfort. The pattern is productive in English. Many "over-" formations are coined to describe excess in a single quality, such as "overpopulated" or "overgrown," and "overpopulous" follows the same logic, taking the older adjective "populous" and adding a sense of surplus. Because "populous" itself already means having a large population, the prefix pushes the meaning from large to too large.

Synonyms: overpopulated, crowded

Antonyms: underpopulated, sparse