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as in democratic
of, relating to, or favoring political democracy a truly popular revolution, not one that replaced one dictatorship with another

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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as in affordable
being within the financial means of most people from their inception, DVDs were designed to be sold directly to consumers at popular prices

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective popular contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of popular are common, familiar, ordinary, plain, and vulgar. While all these words mean "generally met with and not in any way special, strange, or unusual," popular applies to what is accepted by or prevalent among people in general sometimes in contrast to upper classes or special groups.

a writer of popular romances

When is it sensible to use common instead of popular?

While the synonyms common and popular are close in meaning, common implies usual everyday quality or frequency of occurrence and may additionally suggest inferiority or coarseness.

a common error
lacked common honesty
common manners

When would familiar be a good substitute for popular?

In some situations, the words familiar and popular are roughly equivalent. However, familiar stresses the fact of being generally known and easily recognized.

a familiar melody

When might ordinary be a better fit than popular?

While in some cases nearly identical to popular, ordinary stresses conformance in quality or kind with the regular order of things.

an ordinary pleasant summer day
a very ordinary sort of man

In what contexts can plain take the place of popular?

The words plain and popular can be used in similar contexts, but plain is likely to suggest homely simplicity.

plain hard-working people

How are the words vulgar and popular related?

Vulgar, otherwise similar to popular, is likely to carry derogatory connotations (as of inferiority or coarseness).

souvenirs designed to appeal to the vulgar taste

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of popular However, the city is not particularly popular among retirees, as only 16.2 percent of residents are 65 or older. Giulia Carbonaro, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 July 2025 This comprehensive list includes popular brands like Dyson, KitchenAid, Apple, Yankee Candle, Ninja, and more, and even includes some best-selling items from last year’s Prime Day, with prices starting at $6. Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 July 2025 For years, BlackRock has been known for its popular index business, which manages trillions of dollars and makes up a significant portion of its revenues. Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 7 July 2025 There will also be easy access to other popular north-central spots between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue. Shawn Raymundo, AZCentral.com, 7 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for popular
Recent Examples of Synonyms for popular
Adjective
  • The couple was spotted attending the Dior Homme Menswear Spring/Summer 2026 show on June 27 and wore a pair of fashionable ensembles for the event.
    Starr Bowenbank, People.com, 27 June 2025
  • In the downstairs Photo Elysée space, American photographer Tyler Mitchell’s show Wish This Was Real depicts African American subjects of all ages in all manner of settings, in images that are at times fashionable, at times quotidian, and often enigmatic—but always richly beautiful in composition.
    John Oseid, Forbes.com, 24 June 2025
Adjective
  • And then there were the potential ills of a conventional approach, like fumes spewed by laminate flooring.
    Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 28 June 2025
  • Perhaps this abundance of conventional warfare was why the competitive multiplayer modes never became an online sensation?
    Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 27 June 2025
Adjective
  • The studio is banking on the rapidly growing global anime fandom, particularly in the U.S., where enthusiasm spans general audiences, Hollywood creators, celebrities and businesses.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 1 July 2025
  • Performance Trade-Offs: Real-time applications face inherent constraints due to the computational overhead of symbolic reasoning, knowledge graph traversal and the general reduction in inference speeds compared to pure neural approaches.
    Anuradha Weeraman, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Adjective
  • Three Republicans opposed the measure — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky — alongside every Democratic senator.
    Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 1 July 2025
  • Presenting as Muslim perhaps exempted him from comparisons to 2020 Democratic Congressional candidate Sri Preston Kulkarni from Texas, who used his polyglot skills to reach a wide array of voters, but was chastised for seemingly pandering to Hindu conservatives.
    Alexandra Bregman, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
Adjective
  • By clearly showing customers how their deposits fund beneficial projects like affordable housing and renewable energy, banks demonstrate that money can create positive change.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 26 June 2025
  • According to Adams, 500,000 new jobs have been created and affordable housing has been expanded by turning unused buildings into homes.
    Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 26 June 2025
Adjective
  • Bellini noted that hacking operations are much cheaper than bullets, planes or nuclear arms -- what defense analysts call kinetic warfare.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 June 2025
  • Introductory pricing: Spectrum’s most affordable plan is much cheaper than AT&T's, at$30 a month compared to AT&T’s $55 a month for 100 and 300 Mbps download speeds,respectively.
    Kara McGinley, USA Today, 26 June 2025
Adjective
  • On Why Saunas And Cold Plunges Are Pivotal For Recovery Routine As Washington decompresses during the offseason, one of his favorite spots to hit up is WorldSprings Dallas.
    DJ Siddiqi, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
    Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 1 July 2025
Adjective
  • Both are now visible to the naked eye to observers in the Southern Hemisphere and are currently shining millions of times brighter than usual.
    Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 2 July 2025
  • The Senate has spent some 18 hours churning through more than two dozen amendments in what is called a vote-a-rama, a typically laborious process that went on longer than usual as negotiations happen on and off the chamber floor.
    Jim Edwards, Fortune, 1 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Popular.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/popular. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.

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