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:
On one hand, the movies helped popularize modified Japanese cars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Strategy, formerly known as Microstrategy, helped popularize the concept when it started buying large amounts of bitcoin in 2020.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 20, 2026
Early successes in helping define and popularize the personal computer were followed by a troubled adolescence that almost proved fatal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 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
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
Chiefly, at present, she is holding classes, giving parlor-talks, what-not, in which she paraphrases and popularizes the ideas of her leaders.
From The Preliminaries And Other Stories by Comer, Cornelia A. P.
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
But they were first popularized in their current form by Arthur Hayes at BitMEX, an early crypto exchange and derivative platform, according to several industry figures.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 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
This was all occurring thirty years before the hit television show Glee popularized the notion—which even now is more an idea than a reality in most high schools—that a top athlete would participate in drama.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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
The software industry did the first by creating and popularizing a protocol known as SMTP—simple mail transfer protocol—which enabled the exchange of e-mail messages between heterogeneous computer systems.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
