popular

Etymology

From Middle English populer, from Old French populaire and Latin populāris, from populus (“people”) + -āris (“-ar”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒpjʊlə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑpjəlɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒpjələ(ɹ)

Adjective

popular (comparative more popular, superlative most popular)

1. Common among the general public; generally accepted. [from 15th c.]
   • 2007 August 23, Joe Queenan, The Guardian:

     Contrary to popular misconception, MacArthur Park is not the worst song ever written.

2. (law) Concerning the people; public. [from 15th c.]
3. Pertaining to or deriving from the people or general public. [from 16th c.]
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Preface:

     At the coming of Calvin thither, the form of their civil regiment was popular, as it continueth at this day: neither king, nor duke, nor nobleman of any authority or power over them, but officers chosen by the people out of themselves, to order all things with public consent.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 645:

     Luther in popular memory had become a saint, his picture capable of saving houses from burning down, if it was fixed to the parlour wall.

   • 2009, Graham Smith, The Guardian, letter, 27 May 2009:

     Jonathan Freedland brilliantly articulates the size and nature of the challenge and we must take his lead in setting out a radical agenda for a new republic based on the principle of popular sovereignty.

4. (obsolete) Of low birth, not noble; vulgar, plebian. [16th–17th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     Popular and shallow-headed mindes, cannot perceive the grace or comelinesse, nor judge of a smooth and quaint discourse.

5. Aimed at ordinary people, as opposed to specialists etc.; intended for general consumption. [from 16th c.]
   • 2009 April 8, “Meltdown”, in The Economist:

     As a work of popular science it is exemplary: the focus may be the numbers, but most of the mathematical legwork is confined to the appendices and the accompanying commentary is amusing and witty, as well as informed.

6. (obsolete) Cultivating the favour of the common people. [16th–18th c.]
   • 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato, A Tragedy:

     Such popular humanity is treason.

7. Liked by many people; generally pleasing, widely admired. [from 17th c.]
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:

     The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.

   • 2011 October 2, The Observer:

     They might have split 24 years ago, but the Smiths remain as popular as ever, and not just among those who remember them first time around.

   • 2013 March, David S. Senchina, “Athletics and Herbal Supplements”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, page 134:

     Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent.

8. Adapted to the means of the common people; cheap. [from 19th c.]

Noun

popular (plural populars)

1. A person who is popular, especially at a school.
   • 2002, Stephen Tropiano, The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, Hal Leonard Corporation, →ISBN:

     To pass time, Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels), the most vicious of the populars, decides they should play a little game. Earlier that day, in their feminist studies class, the women were discussing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, a novel ...

2. (chiefly in the plural) An inexpensive newspaper with wide circulation.
   • 1983, Jeremy Tunstall, The Media in Britain, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 75:

     Serious newspapers boomed; the populars became tabloid supplements to television, with the television schedules and related features increasingly the core of the newspaper.

3. A member of the Populares
   • 1843, Thucydides, “The” History of the Grecian War, Translated by Thomas Hobbes, page 415:

     [...] when their ambassadors were come from Samos, and that they saw not only the populars, but also some others of their own party thought trusty before, to be now changed.

References

• “popular”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• popular in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "popular" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 236.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “popular”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “popular”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin populāris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [pu.puˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [po.puˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [po.puˈlaɾ]

Adjective

popular m or f (masculine and feminine plural populars)

1. popular (of the common people)
2. popular (well-known, well-liked)

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish popular (“popular”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /popuˈlaɾ/, [po.puˈlaɾ]
• Hyphenation: po‧pu‧lar

Adjective

popular

1. popular