popularity
nounUK /ˌpɒp.jəˈlæɹ.ɪ.ti/ · US /ˌpɑ.pjəˈlæɹ.ə.ti/
Etymology From popular + -ity, from Latin popularitas (“an effort to please the people”).
1
Usually The quality or state of being popular; especially, the state of being widely liked or in favor with the people at large.
- This destination has increased in popularity after great reviews in the guide books.
- Politicians are rarely known for their popularity.
1 more example
- The massive popularity of the book led to it being adapted into a movie.
2
Archaic, Usually The quality or state of being adapted or pleasing to common, poor, or vulgar people
- So this Gallant, labouring to avoid Popularity, falls into a habit of Affectation, Ten thousand times hatefuller than the former.1600, Ben Jonson, Every Man Out of His Humour:
3
Archaic, Broadly, Usually cheapness; inferiority; vulgarity.
4
Archaic, Usually Something which obtains, or is intended to obtain, the favor of the vulgar; claptrap.
- Popularities, and circumstances which […] sway the ordinary judgment.1597, Francis Bacon, The Colours or Good and Evil:
5
Obsolete, Usually The act of courting the favour of the people.
- Cato (the younger) charged Muraena, and indicted him in open court for popularity and ambition.1603, Plutarch, translated by Philemon Holland, Moralia:
6
Archaic, Usually Public sentiment; general passion.
- A little time be allowed for the madness of popularity to cease.1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- nonpopularity, overpopularity, popularity contest, unpopularity