popularize
Americanverb (used with object)
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popularizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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popularized,
past participle, past
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popularizing
present participle
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:
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
In a similar vein to the 1992 Olympics' mesmerizing "Dream Team" of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird, the 75-year-old All-Star Game has historically helped popularize the NBA worldwide.
From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026
The intelligence chief’s curt, deadpan delivery has helped popularize the work of the military intelligence agency, known as HUR, with the public using Budanov’s interviews for widely circulated memes on social media mocking Russia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
By converting a police vehicle warehouse into the Temporary Contemporary in 1983, Gehry helped popularize the reuse of industrial buildings in the museum world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025
It came about because Kepler wrote one of the first works of science fiction, intended to explain and popularize science.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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
On the other hand, the man who plods with scientific details should not look with contempt upon the man who popularizes the results of technical study by giving it an attractive literary setting.
From Our Bird Comrades by Keyser, Leander S. (Leander Sylvester)
Its 2020 debut album, “PDE,” experimented more with the prickly, sad sierreño sound popularized by acts like Eslabon Armado and DannyLux — as well as trap-infused corridos tumbados with a thumping tololoche.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
"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
SpaceX’s $60 billion all-stock purchase of Cursor, a programming assistant that popularized “vibe-coding,” makes Musk a player in corporate AI in a way that his Grok chatbot hasn’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
The Fitbit, launched in 2009, popularized that concept and then was acquired by Google a decade later.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 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
In the present-day AI boom, OpenAI is generally credited with popularizing the MTS, Jayden Clark, the Silicon Valley culture commentator behind the viral X account @creatine_cycle, told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● May 9, 2026
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
Like it or not, fashion has become a key vehicle for popularizing art and design history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
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.
