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 The word “groovy” was popular in the 1960s but it's outdated now.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

The Armenian Shadow Puppet Theater, known as Karagyoz, was especially popular in the 18th century. — Allison Keyes, Smithsonian, "Illuminating the Shadowy Art of Armenian Puppet Theater," 13 July 2018 Now, the same ATVs are popular in large cities including Atlanta, where riders instead hit the concrete pavement and ride illegally. — Alexis Stevens, ajc, "Police, troopers crack down on dirt bikes, ATVs on Atlanta streets," 12 July 2018 Just how popular is Democratic newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? — Claire Zillman, Fortune, "Oprah Winfrey Empire, Angela Merkel, Paternity Leave: Broadsheet July 12th," 12 July 2018 The app allows users to include a message with their payments; emojis are popular. — Telis Demos, WSJ, "You Accidentally Sent $149 to a Stranger on Venmo? Good Luck Getting It Back," 12 July 2018 Equally as popular in those years was rugby football, which would come to be known as what is now universally recognized as rugby (or rugby union) – largely because it was invented at the tony Rugby School. — Martin Rogers, USA TODAY, "Sorry, England: the USA is right to call football 'soccer'," 12 July 2018 Poulin played soccer at Arizona State University and for a team in England for a time so knows first-hand how popular the game is on a global level. — Mike Danahey, Elgin Courier-News, "Enjoy a little World Cup fever Fox Valley-style with soccer fans from around the globe," 12 July 2018 Once wildly popular after his two terms as president from 2003 to 2011, Lula has become a more divisive figure amid the massive Car Wash corruption scandal. — Jill Langlois, latimes.com, "Brazil's judges duel over whether to release former President Lula from prison," 9 July 2018 The idea, Wolff and Conley agree, is that nobody knows what type of transit will be most popular, affordable or efficient in a decade, so the I-35 expansion lanes should be flexible enough to accommodate as many options as possible. — Jasper Scherer, San Antonio Express-News, "San Antonio-Austin MPOs working to ready I-35 for population boom," 5 July 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.