popular

comparative more popular · superlative most popular

1. Common among the general public; generally accepted.First known use 15th c.

   Recent evidence demonstrates that caffeine addiction is becoming popular worldwide.

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

   1 more example

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

   2007 August 23, Joe Queenan, The Guardian

2. lawConcerning the people; public.First known use 15th c.
3. Pertaining to or deriving from the people or general public.First known use 16th c.

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

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   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.

   1594, Richard Hooker, Preface

   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.

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

4. obsoleteOf low birth, not noble; vulgar, plebian.First known use 16th–17th c.

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

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

5. Aimed at ordinary people, as opposed to specialists etc.; intended for general consumption.First known use 16th c.

   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.

   2009 April 8, “Meltdown”, in The Economist

6. obsoleteCultivating the favour of the common people.First known use 16th–18th c.

   Such popular humanity is treason.

   1712, Joseph Addison, Cato, A Tragedy

7. Liked by many people; generally pleasing, widely admired.First known use 17th c.

   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.

   2011 October 2, The Observer

   3 more examples

   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.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion

   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.

   2013 March 28, David S. Senchina, “Athletics and Herbal Supplements”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2016, page 134

   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.

   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

8. Adapted to the means of the common people; cheap.First known use 19th c.

plural populars

1. A person who is popular, especially at a school.

   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 ...

   2002, Stephen Tropiano, The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, Hal Leonard Corporation, →ISBN

2. in pluralAn inexpensive newspaper with wide circulation.

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

   1983, Jeremy Tunstall, The Media in Britain, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 75

3. A member of the Populares

   [...] 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.

   1843, Thucydides, “The” History of the Grecian War, Translated by Thomas Hobbes, page 415

plural Populars

1. A member of any political party with "Popular" in the title, such as the Partido Popular in Spain or Popolari di Italia Domani in Italy