popularize
verb (used with object)
to make popular.
had popularized
-
past perfectof popularize.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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.
Soon, ICE officers began employing many of the same aggressive tactics that Bovino had popularized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
Once circulating clergy had popularized the notion throughout England, local leaders could justify using the books because others were doing it.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2024
Photographers who had popularized the landscape for tourists were increasingly worried about its preservation.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2017
But Eric Drexler, once dubbed the “father of nanotechnology” and the person who had popularized the word in the first place, was nowhere in sight.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2016
Napoleon had popularized the word, which had first been used by the French philosophe Destutt de Tracy, whom Jefferson had read and admired enormously.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
