Adjective
(not comparable)
- Considered to be of, from, or in tune with the common people, rather than from a ruling elite
Usage notes
This is an uncommon example of a word where the apostrophe can be placed in more than one location, yielding different meanings. The distinction drawn between people’s and peoples’ is that people’s means “of the people (as a mass)” or “of various people (as individuals)”, being synonymous with persons’, while peoples’ means “of various groups, races, nations”. Compare “the people’s bank” (a bank belonging to the populace) and “people’s actions reflect their character” (the actions of individuals) with “oppressed peoples’ emergence into nationhood” (various groups have formed nations).
