From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpopulacepop‧u‧lace /ˈpɒpjələs $ ˈpɑː-/ noun [singular] formal COUNTRY/NATIONthe people who live in a country the effects of the war on the local populaceGRAMMAR: Singular or plural verb?Populace is usually followed by a singular verb: The populace wants change.In British English, you can also use a plural verb: The populace want change.
Examples from the Corpus
populace• Every state saw an increase in the size of its over-65 populace during the first half of the 1990s.• A large group of the American populace attends church regularly.• With added momentum, the mob turned its vengeance on the black populace.• The discussion in this chapter should not suggest that the entire rural populace is in constant flux.• The vast majority of the populace accepted its fate as willed by the gods and interpreted by the priestly hierarchy.• He promised to guarantee the security of the populace and to continue the peace process.• In order to ingratiate himself with the populace, he rebuilt the Temple of Jerusalem on a hitherto unprecedented scale.• The populace has always been mobilized around the Koranic concept of taghiya.• The populace has deferred to the independent authority of government and to those who occupy government in return for the satisfaction of expectations.Origin populace (1500-1600) French Italian popolaccio “crowd”, from popolo “people” 