Resident vs Inhabitant

[droren]

Hi,
is there a difference between these two words?

thanks
dror.

[Pamela]

Hi droren,
A resident is a person who lives somewhere on a long-term basis. 2.person who lives in a particular place or who has their own home there.
A resident of Syria

An inhabitant-a person or animal that lives in or occupies a place.

As for me when speaking about population of any country I use the word inhabitant though resident is also possible, but I think that inhabitant may live anywhere but not always have the house of his own. That are my ideas Maybe I'm wrong

[Yankee]

Hi dror

As Pamela pointed out, the words are similar. But I associate a feeling of house, home, hometown, etc. much more with the word resident. So, "resident" feels more personal than "inhabitant" to me.

Also, I'd say that the word inhabitant would be used much more often in the plural form than in the singular form.

Amy
_________________
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[droren]

thank you!