See Also: popular(dictionary)
Popular(finance)
popular(dictionary)
popular sovereignty(encyclopedia)
popular music(encyclopedia)
popular front(encyclopedia)
Popular (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Banco Popular Espanol, S.A.(finance)
Popular Republican Movement (MRP)(encyclopedia)
POPULAR ACTION, punishment(law)

popular (iou)



popular adjective & noun. LME.
[Anglo-Norman populer, Old French populeir (later and mod. populaire) or Latin popularis, from populus PEOPLE noun: see -AR1.]
A. adjective.
Prevalent or current among the general public; commonly known, general. LME.
Jeremy Taylor Does not God plant remedies there where the diseases are most popular?
Law. Affecting, concerning, or open to the people; public. Now rare or obsolete. LME.
a. Of, pertaining to, or consisting of ordinary people, or the people as a whole; constituted or carried on by the people. M16.
H. Carpenter Williams was..having little popular success with any of his books.
b. Of or belonging to the commonalty or populace; plebeian; vulgar. M16-L17.
Full of people; populous; crowded. L16-E18.
Intended for or suited to the taste or means of ordinary people; adapted to the understanding of lay people as opp. to specialists. L16.
Ld Macaulay Every question..in a popular style which boys and women could comprehend. G. Greene The world is modelled after the popular magazines nowadays.
Aware of or cultivating the favour of the common people; supporting the cause of the common people. L16-L18.
a. Favoured or admired by the people or by a particular group of people; pleasing, liked. E17.
J. Steinbeck It is popular to picture a small-town constable as dumb and clumsy. C. Freeman Kelly was the most popular, desirable, sought-after girl at college.
b. Designating forms of art, music, or other culture which appeal to or are favoured by many people; intended primarily to please, amuse, or entertain (freq. opp. serious). M19.
R. H. Wilenski The nineteenth century produced..popular art of the romantic and descriptive kinds.
Special collocations: popular capitalism a style of capitalism in which the general public are encouraged to own shares, property, etc.; the theory or practice of this. popular etymology = FOLK etymology. popular front (freq. with cap. initials) a party or coalition representing left-wing or radical elements; spec. an international alliance of Communist, radical, and Socialist elements formed and gaining some power in the 1930s. popular frontism (freq. with cap. initials) the principles or policies of a popular front. popular press newspapers appealing to or read by ordinary people.
b. absol. as noun.
a. collect. The common people, the populace. M16-M17.
b. In pl. The common people. L16-E17.
A concert of popular music. M19.
A newspaper appealing to or read by ordinary people; a tabloid. M20.
popularish adjective (rare) tending to be popular, fairly popular E19.
popularism noun (a) a word or phrase in common and widespread use; a colloquialism; (b) = POPULISM 1: L19.
popularist noun & adjective (a) noun a democrat; a populist; (b) adjective concerning or appealing to the people; popular; democratic: L19.
popularly adverb L16.
popularness noun (rare) E18.