INHABIT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does inhabit mean? 

• INHABIT (verb)
  The verb INHABIT has 3 senses:

1. be an inhabitant of or reside in

2. be present in

3. exist or be situated within

  Familiarity information: INHABIT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INHABIT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they inhabit    ... he / she / it inhabits   
Past simple: inhabited   
Past participle: inhabited   
-ing form: inhabiting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be an inhabitant of or reside in

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

dwell; inhabit; live; populate

Context example:

deer are populating the woods

Hypernyms (to "inhabit" is one way to...):

be (occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inhabit"):

tenant (occupy as a tenant)

neighbor; neighbour (live or be located as a neighbor)

lodge in; occupy; reside (live (in a certain place))

domicile; domiciliate; reside; shack (make one's home in a particular place or community)

people (furnish with people)

overpopulate (cause to have too great a population)

cohabit; live together; shack up (share living quarters; usually said of people who are not married and live together as a couple)

lodge (be a lodger; stay temporarily)

bivouac; camp; camp out; encamp; tent (live in or as if in a tent)

nest (inhabit a nest, usually after building)

board; room (live and take one's meals at or in)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

inhabitancy (the act of dwelling in or living permanently in a place (said of both animals and men))

inhabitant (a person who inhabits a particular place)

inhabitation (the act of dwelling in or living permanently in a place (said of both animals and men))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be present in

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

sweet memories inhabit this house

Hypernyms (to "inhabit" is one way to...):

be (occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inhabit"):

infest (live on or in a host, as of parasites)

infest; invade; overrun (occupy in large numbers or live on a host)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

inhabitation (the act of dwelling in or living permanently in a place (said of both animals and men))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Exist or be situated within

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

dwell; inhabit

Context example:

Strange notions inhabited her mind

Hypernyms (to "inhabit" is one way to...):

be; exist (have an existence, be extant)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I should be there again soon, no doubt; I might sleep again—perhaps often—in my old room; but the days of my inhabiting there were gone, and the old time was past.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If you have reason to believe that it is inhabited, do not force your way in, but send a wire to my friend and me.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘It is utterly useless,’ replied Felix; ‘we can never again inhabit your cottage.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Foremost of all, of course, were the sight of the fiery caves and the certainty that some troglodytic race inhabited them.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Like humans and other mammals, mice are inhabited by large, diverse microbial populations collectively called the microbiome.

(Scientists find microbes on the skin of mice promote tissue healing, immunity, National Institutes of Health)

Intellectually they were children, inhabiting the physical forms of men.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited at all.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the three men who inhabit these rooms.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Nor would I have stopped there had my dogs been less tired or had the rest of the village been inhabited.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Wondji said control efforts, such as eliminating mosquito larvae that inhabit standing pools of water, can also be redoubled.

(Malaria-carrying Mosquitoes Becoming Resistant to Bed Nets in Southern Africa, VOA)