Jump To:

• popper
  popper

  noun

  a person or thing that pops.
• Popper
  Popper

  noun

  Sir Karl (Raimund) 1902–1994, British philosopher, born in Austria.

popper

¹ American  

[pop-er] / ˈpɒp ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that pops.

2. a utensil, as a covered pan, used for popping corn.

3. Angling. chugger.

4. a vial of amyl or butyl nitrite abused as a vasodilator for the effect of exhilaration.

---

Popper ² American  

[pop-er] / ˈpɒp ər /

noun

1. Sir Karl (Raimund) 1902–1994, British philosopher, born in Austria.

---

popper ¹ British  

/ ˈpɒpə /

noun

1. a person or thing that pops

2. an informal name for press stud

3. a container for cooking popcorn in

4. slang an amyl nitrite capsule, which is crushed and its contents inhaled by drug users as a stimulant

---

Popper ² British  

/ ˈpɒpə, pɒˈpɪərɪən /

noun

1. Sir Karl. 1902–94, British philosopher, born in Vienna. In The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934), he proposes that knowledge cannot be absolutely confirmed, but rather that science progresses by the experimental refutation of the current theory and its consequent replacement by a new theory, equally provisional but covering more of the known data. The Open Society and its Enemies (1945) is a critique of dogmatic political philosophies, such as Marxism. Other works are The Poverty of Historicism (1957), Conjectures and Refutations (1963), and Objective Knowledge (1972)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Popperian
  noun

Etymology

Origin of popper

1740–50; pop ¹ + -er ¹; compare Middle English poppere a small dagger

Example Sentences

Danielle Popper, spokeswoman for Cantor, said the firm uses “rigorous compliance checks” and said “any suggestion we have acted improperly in regard with the transition of leadership and ownership is categorically false.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 2025

Joanna Popper, CAA’s chief metaverse officer, left the talent agency after just over a year and then served a stint as a “board observer” at entertainment-focused AI startup Metaphysic.ai, which has a partnership with CAA.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 5, 2024

The ensemble cast features the Oscar-winning performances of Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper, the adulterous wife of the high school sports coach and Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion, the town’s popular businessman.

From Washington Times • Nov. 23, 2023

It had a strong whiff of the D-list, and they didn’t want to be listed next to a pair of TikTok rappers called the Island Boys or the dermatologist known as Dr. Pimple Popper.

From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2023

That evening—it was Saturday, the twenty-ninth of January—the Popper family and their twelve trained penguins, two of them carrying flags in their beaks, left the house to find the Palace Theater.

From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater