inhabit

Everyday

1. To inhabit a place means to live in it: «polar bears inhabit the Arctic». tree →
2. (formal) To inhabit can also mean to be present in something: «strange creatures inhabit her stories». tree →

In the lessons

In science and geography lessons «inhabit» is used for where living things and people live: «Which animals inhabit the rainforest?». Related words are «inhabitant» (a person or animal that lives somewhere), «habitat» (the natural home of a living thing) and «uninhabited» (with nobody living there: «an uninhabited island»). In maths and geography, «the town has ten thousand inhabitants» gives its population.

Examples

• Penguins inhabit the cold seas of the southern hemisphere. tree →
• Which animals inhabit a pond? tree →
• People have inhabited this valley for thousands of years. tree →
• The island is not inhabited. tree →
• Bats inhabit the old church tower. tree →
• The town has twenty thousand inhabitants. tree →
• Many creatures inhabit the deep ocean. tree →
• The BIRCH NYMPH is a melancholy maiden with floating hair, resembling the branches of the pale and fragile-looking tree which she inhabits. tree →

Note

Past «inhabited». It takes an object directly: «inhabit the forest», not «inhabit in the forest». Trap: «inhabited» means lived in, and «uninhabited» means not lived in — but «inhabitable» and «habitable» both mean fit to live in (here «in-» does not mean «not»). Formal; in everyday talk say «live in».

In Jewish tradition

To dwell in a land. God says the land is where He dwells among Israel.

Interpretation. Tradition reads this as meaning the land must be kept pure because God's presence is there.

Examples

• And thou shalt not defile the land which ye inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.' (Torah NUM.35.34, JPS 1917) tree →
• The righteous shall never be moved; but the wicked shall not inhabit the land. (Writings PRO.10.30, JPS 1917) tree →
• Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan, Thou gavest him to be food to the folk inhabiting the wilderness. (Writings PSA.74.14, JPS 1917) tree →
• And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. (Prophets ISA.65.21, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Past «inhabited». It takes an object directly: «inhabit the forest», not «inhabit in the forest». Trap: «inhabited» means lived in, and «uninhabited» means not lived in — but «inhabitable» and «habitable» both mean fit to live in (here «in-» does not mean «not»). Formal; in everyday talk say «live in».