popular

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

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

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒp(j)ula(ɾ)/
• Rhymes: -ɒpjələ(ɹ)

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.

   • 2020 February 17, Fawaz Alasmari, “Caffeine induces neurobehavioral effects through modulating neurotransmitters”, in Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal‎^[1], volume 28, number 4, →DOI, pages 445–451:

     Recent evidence demonstrates that caffeine addiction is becoming popular worldwide.

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^[2], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 15 July 2016, 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.

   • 2024 November 21, Helen Regan, Isaac Yee and Eve Brennan, “Australian teens among six tourists dead as countries warn of suspected methanol poisonings in Laos”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     The Australian teens, both from Melbourne, were enjoying a backpacking trip when they became ill after a night out in Vang Vieng.
     The picturesque rural town in northern Laos has long been a popular backpacking spot.

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

• anonymous
• unpopular

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.

• “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.

Borrowed from Latin populāris.

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

popular m or f (masculine and feminine plural populars)

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

• popularitzar
• popularment

• poble
• popularitat

• “popular”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Inherited from Spanish popular (“popular”).

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

popular

1. popular

Learned borrowing from Latin populārēs.^[1] First attested in the 20th century.^[2]

• IPA^(key): /pɔˈpu.lar/
• Rhymes: -ular
• Syllabification: po‧pu‧lar

popular m pers

1. (Ancient Rome, politics) popular (member of the Populares)

• popular in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• popularzy in PWN's encyclopedia

Learned borrowing from Latin populāris.

• Hyphenation: po‧pu‧lar

popular m or f (plural populares)

1. popular (liked by many people)

   Esse sabor de sorvete é popular nessa região.

   That ice cream flavour is popular around those parts.

2. popular (relating to the general public)

   Eles estudam a cultura popular.

   They study popular culture.

   • 2011, Edelvino Razzolini Filho, Administração da Pequena e Média Empresa, IESDE Brasil S.A., →ISBN, page 44:

     Convém, aqui, lembrar o ditado popular: amigos, amigos; negócios à parte. Caso o empreendedor saiba separar a amizade dos negócios, certamente estará em melhores condições para o sucesso.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. popular (aimed at ordinary people)

   Um livro popular de programação.

   A popular programming book.

4. (by extension) popular; affordable

   Synonym: barato

   Moradia popular.

   Low-income housing.

5. (politics) democratic (involving the participation of the general public)

   Synonym: democrático

   Voto popular.

   Democratic vote.

• população
• popularidade
• povo

popular m (plural populares)

1. (formal) civilian (a person who is not working in the police or armed forces)

   Synonym: civil

   Populares ajudaram a encontrar o fugitivo.

   Civilians helped find the fugitive.

popular f (plural populares)

1. cheap accommodation

• Hyphenation: po‧pu‧lar

popular (first-person singular present populo, first-person singular preterite populei, past participle populado)

1. (databases) to populate (to add initial data to [a database])
2. (rare) to populate

   Synonym: povoar

• “popular”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “popular”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from Latin popularis, French populaire. By surface analysis, popul +‎ -ar.

• IPA^(key): /po.puˈlar/

• Audio:

  (file)

popular m or n (feminine singular populară, masculine plural populari, feminine and neuter plural populare)

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

• popula
• popularitate
• populism
• populist
• popor

Borrowed from Latin populāris.

• IPA^(key): /popuˈlaɾ/ [po.puˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: po‧pu‧lar

popular m or f (masculine and feminine plural populares)

1. popular
2. (politics, Spain) Pertaining to PP (Partido Popular), a Spanish political party

popular m or f by sense (plural populares)

1. (politics, Spain) a member or supporter of PP (Partido Popular), a Spanish political party

• “popular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

• pupular

Borrowed from Spanish popular.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /popuˈlaɾ/ [po.pʊˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: po‧pu‧lar

populár (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜓᜉᜓᜎᜇ᜔)

1. popular

   Synonyms: tanyag, sikat, bantog, kilala, prominente

• “popular”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018