popular
Americanadjective
-
regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general.
a popular preacher.
- Synonyms:
- bookmark
-
regarded with favor, approval, or affection by an acquaintance or acquaintances.
He's not very popular with me just now.
-
of, relating to, or representing the people, especially the common people.
popular discontent.
-
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.
-
prevailing among the people generally.
a popular superstition.
-
suited to or intended for the general masses of people.
popular music.
-
adapted to the ordinary intelligence or taste.
popular lectures on science.
-
suited to the means of ordinary people; not expensive.
popular prices on all tickets.
adjective
-
appealing to the general public; widely favoured or admired
-
favoured by an individual or limited group
I'm not very popular with her
-
connected with, representing, or prevailing among the general public; common
popular discontent
-
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
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.
BBC Newsbeat has been asking some of them why they love the series so much, why it appeals to so many people, and why it continues to prove so popular.
From BBC
Axar thought the wildly popular club would be able to pay them back easily, according to a person familiar with his decision.
Like most young people of their time, the sisters also grew up with popular ghost stories like author Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Methodist founder John Wesley’s family haunt, “Old Jeffrey.”
From Literature
![]()
Thanks to his subject matter and materials, Mr. Otsuki’s work feels timeless, while his intentional, unshowy formal choices make it an invigorating counterpoint to so much of the noisy art popular at the moment.
On Thursday, Kaley said she inflated the number of ‘likes’ on her posts, “because it made me look popular.”
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.