common, ordinary, plain, familiar, popular, vulgar mean generally met with and not in any way special, strange, or unusual. common implies usual everyday quality or frequency of occurrence a common error lacked common honesty and may additionally suggest inferiority or coarseness. common manners ordinary stresses conformance in quality or kind with the regular order of things. an ordinary pleasant summer day a very ordinary sort of man plain is likely to suggest homely simplicity. plain hard-working people familiar stresses the fact of being generally known and easily recognized. a familiar melody 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 vulgar, otherwise similar to popular, is likely to carry derogatory connotations (as of inferiority or coarseness). souvenirs designed to appeal to the vulgar taste

Examples of popular in a Sentence

They have names that were popular a century ago. He is a popular guy in school. Spicy foods have become increasingly popular. That is a very popular misconception. The word “groovy” was popular in the 1960s but it's outdated now. Her theories are popular among social scientists. a popular history of physics

Recent Examples on the Web

That subscription unlocks features like access to sample and loop libraries and support for loads of MIDI controllers from popular brands. — Dani Deahl, The Verge, "Djay relaunched on iOS with subscription model and powerful performance features," 12 Dec. 2018 William Sonoma: Shop discounts across popular brands, including up to 50 percent off KitchenAid, up to 60 percent off Nespresso, $150 off Vitamix blenders, and 75 percent off a 4-quart Staub Dutch Oven. — Jenny Xie, Curbed, "Best Cyber Monday deals you can still shop," 27 Nov. 2018 For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, these three popular meal kit brands below are offering great deals for new customers. — Leta Shy, SELF, "3 Meal Kit Delivery Services on Deep Discount for Black Friday and Cyber Monday," 23 Nov. 2018 For an alt-steak, try Madera: In LIC, an alt-steak is basically any slab of beef eaten somewhere other than uber-popular M. Wells Steakhouse or Dinette. — Ali Francis, Vogue, "7 Long Island City Restaurants You Should Try Before, Well, Amazon," 20 Nov. 2018 By 1966, some of the critters had also evolved resistance to then-popular pesticides such as malathion, diazinon and fenthion. — Rob Dunn, Discover Magazine, "Our Attempts to Eradicate Insects are Just Making them Resistant to Pesticides," 16 Nov. 2018 Brooksbank serves as the UK distributor for George Clooney's popular tequila brand. — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, "Princess Eugenie Looks Gorgeous In a Blush Reception Dress By Zac Posen," 13 Oct. 2018 Cherry MX Speed switches have a shorter actuation point (1.2mm) than the Cherry MX Red switches that are so popular with gamers, giving them a faster reaction time under the right fingers. — Ian Paul, PCWorld, "Corsair's K70 MK.2 Special Edition keyboard is built for fast gaming and cheaper than ever at $50 off," 5 Oct. 2018 Cotton pads are such a hot topic in South Korea because people take extra precaution to prevent skin irritation, according to Liah Yoo, a YouTube star and founder of popular Korean skin-care brand Krave Beauty. — Devon Abelman, Allure, "Korean Cotton Pads Are the Secret to a Proper K-Beauty Skin Routine," 4 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'popular.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.