popular
Americanadjective
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regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general.
a popular preacher.
- Synonyms:
- bookmark
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regarded with favor, approval, or affection by an acquaintance or acquaintances.
He's not very popular with me just now.
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of, relating to, or representing the people, especially the common people.
popular discontent.
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of the people as a whole, especially of all citizens of a nation or state qualified to participate in an election.
popular suffrage; the popular vote; popular representation.
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prevailing among the people generally.
a popular superstition.
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suited to or intended for the general masses of people.
popular music.
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adapted to the ordinary intelligence or taste.
popular lectures on science.
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suited to the means of ordinary people; not expensive.
popular prices on all tickets.
adjective
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appealing to the general public; widely favoured or admired
-
favoured by an individual or limited group
I'm not very popular with her
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connected with, representing, or prevailing among the general public; common
popular discontent
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appealing to or comprehensible to the layman
a popular lecture on physics
noun
Related Words
See general.
Other Word Forms
- antipopular adjective
- nonpopular adjective
- overpopular adjective
- popularity noun
- pseudopopular adjective
- quasi-popular adjective
- semipopular adjective
Etymology
Origin of popular
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English populer, from Latin populāris; people, -ar 1
Explanation
The adjective popular describes something that is well-liked or admired by a lot of people. Sometimes when you read a bestselling novel, you wonder why it's so popular. Popular comes from the Latin word populus, which means people. Anything that is popular is liked by many people. When you're talking about popular music or art, you may sometimes shorten the word popular to "pop," as in pop music or pop culture. Popular also describes things by or for the people, or the general population, such as the popular vote or a popular revolt.
Vocabulary lists containing popular
We the People: Popul
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"Sports in America"
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Introduction to Fiction
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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.
In addition to the strong kickoff, 2026 marks the return of popular franchises that once printed money for studios: a new “Star Wars” movie, as well as Disney and Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
Anthropic, the maker of popular chatbot Claude and viral coding app Claude Code, has been plagued recently by frequent outages.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
And so, for months now, Platner has been one of the least popular people on the platform.
From Slate • Apr. 13, 2026
Citadelle Henri, also known as Citadelle Laferriere, is a 19th-century fortress and popular tourist spot.
From Barron's • Apr. 12, 2026
Yes, the president and Mrs. Lincoln would attend this evening’s performance of the popular if silly comedy Our American Cousin.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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.
