popularize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to make popular; make attractive to the general public
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to make or cause to become easily understandable or acceptable
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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popularizationnoun
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popularizernoun
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repopularizationnoun
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depopularizeverb (used with object)
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repopularizeverb (used with object)
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antipopularizationadjective
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semipopularizedadjective
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unpopularizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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popularizesimple
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popularizessimple
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have popularizedperfect
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has popularizedperfect
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am popularizingprogressive
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are popularizingprogressive
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is popularizingprogressive
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have been popularizingperfect progressive
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has been popularizingperfect progressive
Past
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popularizedsimple
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had popularizedperfect
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was popularizingprogressive
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were popularizingprogressive
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had been popularizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of popularize
Vocabulary lists containing popularize
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.
See Examples For:
While passive, follow-the-index strategies that Vanguard helped popularize have become dominant in stocks, many investors still favor active funds in the more-complex bond markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
Sports columnist Bill Simmons, who helped popularize the format, recently moved his podcasts to the platform in January as part of a deal with Spotify.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
Japanese pitchers migrating to MLB, including Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, have helped popularize the splitter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Since Robinhood helped popularize commission-free trading, introducing a new generation of investors to buying and selling securities on their smartphones, trading volumes in U.S. equity options have exploded.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 24, 2026
Pilar Ternera was the one who contributed most to popularize that mystification when she conceived the trick of reading the past in cards as she had read the future before.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ultimately, gaming may well end up being what popularizes the metaverse.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2022
Since then more than 15 million people have watched the documentary on Upworthy, which aggregates and popularizes videos and other online content.
From BusinessWeek ● Aug. 1, 2013
He’s been on his own now for a couple of decades, a philosopher-showman with an immense following whose art popularizes Post-Minimalism’s strategies with the use of big, accessible themes.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2010
In his old age he ruefully remarked that "ridicule does not kill, it popularizes."
From Time Magazine Archive
This part of his work will be found very valuable, as it popularizes a subject which has few attractions for most readers.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 78, April, 1864 by Various
"Nothing excites Trump more than the power of saying 'you're fired,'" Litman said, referencing the catchphrase Trump popularized in his former role as a reality competition show host.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
In the first few years of the company, he popularized comic series based on movies such as “Star Wars,” “Aliens” and “Predator.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
I find this reflects how poorly AI and its potential benefits have been explained and popularized to younger generations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
One advocate of this approach is author Benny Lewis, who popularized a communicative learning approach he calls “language hacking” which focuses on the language skills needed for conversation.
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026
Microsoft, IBM, and a host of other companies contributed to the development of XML and SOAP, and both were subsequently ratified and popularized as Internet standards.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
Jonas also likes the 1920s play “R.U.R” by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek, which is credited with popularizing the word “robot.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
The progressive pollster Sean McElwee became a minor celebrity for popularizing the phrase.
From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2026
Meanwhile, the investment firm Vanguard has been credited with popularizing low-cost and diversified index funds.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025
A boom in swimming pool construction tied to the post-war suburbanization of the state was another factor popularizing an idealized California lifestyle built around leisure and recreation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2024
Borel was followed by two other works of popularizing science.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
