unpopular
Americanadjective
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not popular; disliked or ignored by the public or by persons generally.
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in disfavor with a particular person or group of persons.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unpopular
Explanation
When something is unpopular, it means most people don't like it, like a school lunch that nobody wants to eat or a TV show that nobody watches. Empty theaters and poor reviews indicate that a movie is unpopular. A politician with low approval ratings is unpopular and probably won't be reelected. Unpopular opinions are those that are not widely accepted or well-received. The word unpopular indicates a lack of favor or acceptance that can lead to rejection of products, ideas, and sometimes even people.
Vocabulary lists containing unpopular
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Economist this week had a piece titled “How unpopular is Donald Trump?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Data centers are also proving massively unpopular, even among conservative voters in rural areas.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Against that backdrop, it would have been very surprising indeed if the replacement of the deeply unpopular Sir Keir by the relatively popular Burnham had not given Labour a short-term boost.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Last week, he rejected the notion that he should rethink his unpopular Iran strategy because of the looming midterms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Four conflicting theories, each of them popular in some countries and unpopular in others, have been proposed.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
