populace

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French populace, from Italian popolaccio, from popolo + -accio (“pejorative suffix”), from Latin populus.

1. The common people of a nation.

   “The populace despised their ignorant leader.”

   “Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.”

2. The inhabitants of a country or one of its administrative divisions (such as a state, province, or county).

   “Thomas Brassey (1805-70) should be equally famous, yet he is unknown to swathes of the greater populace. His plaque is at Chester.”