Meanings
present singular third person popularises · participle present popularising · participle past popularised · past popularised · alternative British English Oxford US popularize
- transitiveTo make something popular.
Homer Simpson popularised the term "d'oh".
2 more examples
Towards the end of August, the Southern Railway decided to adopt a novel form of publicity to popularise the services. Sandwich board men were employed at Charing Cross and Cannon Street to display placards, and distribute leaflet timetables, calling attention to the vacant seats on the services via Nunhead.
1946 November and December, “Additional London-Dartford Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 386Special cheap day return facilities have been introduced to popularise the railbuses.
1959 March, “Talking of Trains: Railbuses on the W.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 121 - transitivecommunicationTo present information in a form less difficult for the general public to understand or enjoy, especially by excluding details and jargon found in technical or academic publications.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbcater to popular taste to make popular and present to the general public; bring into general or common use
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Italic*poplos
- Old Latinpopulus
- Latinpopulus
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Latinpopulāri
- Old Frenchpopulaire
- Latinpopulāris
- Middle Englishpopuler
- Englishpopular
- Englishpopularise
Translations
Bulgarian популяризирам
- популяризирам (populjariziram)to make popular
Catalan popularitzar
- popularitzarto make popular
Chinese Mandarin 普及, 推廣 /推广
- 普及 (pǔjí)to make popular
- 推廣 /推广 (tuīguǎng)to make popular
- 通俗化 (tōngsúhuà)to present information in a form which the general public better understands
- 普及 (pǔjí)to present information in a form which the general public better understands
- 大眾化 /大众化 (dàzhònghuà)to present information in a form which the general public better understands
Czech zpopularizovat, popularizovat
- zpopularizovatto make popular
- popularizovatto present information in a form which the general public better understands
Danish popularisere
- popularisereto make popular
Finnish tehdä suosituksi, tehdä tunnetuksi
- tehdä suosituksito make popular
- tehdä tunnetuksito make popular
- helppotajuistaato present information in a form which the general public better understands
- popularisoidato present information in a form which the general public better understands
- kansantajuistaato present information in a form which the general public better understands
French populariser, vulgariser
- populariserto make popular
- vulgariserto present information in a form which the general public better understands
German popularisieren
- popularisierento make popular
Hungarian népszerűsít, popularizál
- népszerűsítto make popular
- popularizálto make popular
Japanese 大衆化する
- 大衆化する (taishūka suru)to make popular
Norwegian Bokmål popularisere
- popularisereto make popular
Polish popularyzować, spopularyzować
- popularyzowaćto make popular
- spopularyzowaćto make popular
- upowszechniaćto make popular
- upowszechnićto make popular
- popularyzowaćto present information in a form which the general public better understands
- spopularyzowaćto present information in a form which the general public better understands
Portuguese popularizar
- popularizarto make popular
Romanian populariza
- popularizato make popular
Russian популяризи́ровать, популяризо́вывать
- популяризи́ровать (populjarizírovatʹ)to make popular
- популяризо́вывать (populjarizóvyvatʹ)to make popular
- популяризова́ть (populjarizovátʹ)to make popular
Spanish popularizar, masificar
- popularizarto make popular
- masificarto make popular
Swedish popularisera
- populariserato make popular
Ukrainian популяризува́ти
- популяризува́ти (populjaryzuváty)to make popular
Welsh poblogeiddio
- poblogeiddioto make popular
Cite this entry
popularise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/popularise
“popularise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/popularise. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “popularise,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/popularise.
Source: popularise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.