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The word “groovy” was popular in the 1960s but it's outdated now.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 of popular from the Web

The first iterations of extras were behind-the-scene documentaries, which became popular in the late 1970s with the rise of blockbusters.

— fabrice robinet, New York Times, "Oh for the Days of the Making-Of Featurette — Seriously," 6 Apr. 2018
Metal bats became popular in youth and amateur leagues in the 1970s, and remain dominant at those levels.

— jeff barker, baltimoresun.com, "Wood bat or metal? New youth baseball rule tries to settle the debate. But it's expensive.," 6 Apr. 2018
Over the past year, the headphones have slowly become more and more popular, and therefore less stigmatized.

— emilia petrarca, The Cut, "How to Wear AirPods and Not Look Like an Idiot," 5 Apr. 2018
The audio gear became popular internationally as much for its futuristic design as for its sound.

— ian austen, BostonGlobe.com, "Peter Munk; built world’s biggest gold mining company," 5 Apr. 2018
Ford has seen sales in China decline sharply in recent months as domestic competitors become more popular.

— liza lin, WSJ, "To Buy a Car in China, Hit the Vending Machine," 5 Apr. 2018
Over time and with the improving economy, the Sacramento pizza bar became increasingly popular and was well reviewed on consumer sites.

— mark glover, sacbee, "Davis’ Hot Italian pizza shuts its doors | The Sacramento Bee," 4 Apr. 2018
As the league expanded and became more popular, Massa got tired of losing.

— ben baskin, SI.com, "No Helmets, No Pads, Full-Contact Tackle Football: Meet the Men of the A7FL," 4 Apr. 2018
What if Trump became more popular with Bezos’s social circle?

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Milton Friedman Predicted Socialism Would Kill Democracy. Instead, Trump Is.," 3 Apr. 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.

Origin and Etymology of popular

Latin popularis, from populus the people, a people

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1548

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

popular Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of popular

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

Other Sociology Terms

bourgeois, ethos, eugenics, exurb, incommunicado, intelligentsia, megalopolis, metrosexual, mores, subculture

POPULAR Defined for English Language Learners

Definition of popular for English Language Learners

: liked or enjoyed by many people
: accepted, followed, used, or done by many people
: of, relating to, or coming from most of the people in a country, society, or group

POPULAR Defined for Kids

Definition of popular for Students

1 : of or relating to most of the people in a country or area

the popular vote

popular culture

2 : enjoyed or approved by many people

a popular game

3 : frequently encountered or widely accepted

popular opinion

—

popularly

adverb

a popularly held belief

Word Root of popular

The Latin word populus, meaning “people,” gives us the root popul. Words from the Latin populus have something to do with people. A population is the group of people living in a particular place. Anything popular is common among or enjoyed by many people. A place that is populous has many people living in it.