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
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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; see 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.
But the question of where Laufey sits in the pantheon of popular music has befuddled critics ever since.
From BBC • May 2, 2026
It’s a public television mainstay that plays well with niche audiences too, as Twitch discovered when a nine-day marathon in 2015 proved to be enormously popular.
From Salon • May 2, 2026
Church scorned French Impressionism as slapdash, and Ms. Johnson suggests that his work became less popular simply because it was superseded by a more innovative style.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
The first is what it calls node leadership, or Micron’s skill in turning out new generations of popular memory types.
From Barron's • May 1, 2026
“It goes on to say the speaker predicted the triumphant election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin in next month’s election ‘by a splendid popular majority.’”
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
