popular : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: popular	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for popular
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
popular adj regarded with great favor, approval, or affection especially by the general public; "a popular tourist attraction"; "a popular girl"; "cabbage patch dolls are no longer popular" Antonym(s): unpopular carried on by or for the people (or citizens) at large; "the popular vote"; "popular representation"; "institutions of popular government" representing or appealing to or adapted for the benefit of the people at large; "democratic art forms"; "a democratic or popular movement"; "popular thought"; "popular science"; "popular fiction" Synonym(s): democratic, popular (of music or art) new and of general appeal (especially among young people) Synonym(s): popular, pop
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Popular \Pop"ular\, a. [L. popularis, fr. populus people: cf. F. populaire. See {People}.] 1. Of or pertaining to the common people, or to the whole body of the people, as distinguished from a select portion; as, the popular* voice; popular elections. [bd]Popular states.[b8] --Bacon. [bd]So the popular vote inclines.[b8] --Milton. The men commonly held in popular estimation are greatest at a distance. --J. H. Newman. 2. Suitable to common people; easy to be comprehended; not abstruse; familiar; plain. Homilies are plain popular instructions. --Hooker. 3. Adapted to the means of the common people; possessed or obtainable by the many; hence, cheap; common; ordinary; inferior; as, popular prices; popular amusements. The smallest figs, called popular figs, . . . are, of all others, the basest and of least account. --Holland. 4. Beloved or approved by the people; pleasing to people in general, or to many people; as, a popular preacher; a popular law; a popular administration. 5. Devoted to the common people; studious of the favor of the populace. [R.] Such popular humanity is treason. --Addison. 6. Prevailing among the people; epidemic; as, a popular disease. [Obs.] --Johnson. {Popular action} (Law), an action in which any person may sue for penalty imposed by statute. --Blackstone.