POPULARITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Popularity

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/pˌɑpjəlˈɛrəti/ Listen

noun

Popularity n. (pl. popularities)

The quality or state of being popular; especially, the state of being esteemed by, or of being in favor with, the people at large; good will or favor proceeding from the people; as, the popularity of a law, statesman, or a book. "A popularity which has lasted down to our time."

The quality or state of being adapted or pleasing to common, poor, or vulgar people; hence, cheapness; inferiority; vulgarity. "This gallant laboring to avoid popularity falls into a habit of affectation."

Something which obtains, or is intended to obtain, the favor of the vulgar; claptrap. "Popularities, and circumstances which... sway the ordinary judgment."

The act of courting the favor of the people. (Obs.) "Indicted... for popularity and ambition."

Public sentiment; general passion. (R.) "A little time be allowed for the madness of popularity to cease."

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Etymology of 'Popularity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Popularity" Quotes from Famous Books

... the party."[89] If this be true, his buoyant optimism throughout the canvass is admirable. He was pitted against a formidable opponent in the person of Major John T. Stuart, who had been the candidate of the Whigs two years before. Stuart enjoyed great popularity. He was "an old resident" of Springfield,—as Western people then reckoned time. He had earned his title in the Black Hawk War, since which he had practiced law. For the arduous campaign, which would range over thirty-four counties,—from Calhoun, Morgan and Sangamon on the south to Cook County ...

— Stephen A. Douglas - A Study in American Politics • Allen Johnson

... saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by neglect, He pays, indeed, says I, ...

— True to His Home - A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin • Hezekiah Butterworth

... John, now king of Aragon and its dependencies, alarmed by the reports of his son's popularity in Sicily, became as solicitous for the security of his authority there, as he had before been for it in Navarre. He accordingly sought to soothe the mind of the prince by the fairest professions, and to allure him back to Spain by the prospect of an effectual reconciliation. Carlos, believing ...

— History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella V1 • William H. Prescott

... but natural that the cathedral builders should have followed to some extent this new influence. The Church was ever seeking to strengthen its popularity, the bishops ensconced themselves in their cathedral cities as snugly as did a feudal lord in his castle, and their emulation of wealth outside of the Church was but an effort to keep their status on a plane with that ...

— The Cathedrals of Northern France • Francis Miltoun

... serene and spotless character, that character which every public man, and especially every professional man engaged in politics, ought to propose to himself as a model, it was this, that he despised popularity too much and too visibly. The honourable Member for Thetford told us that the honourable and learned Member for Rye, with all his talents, would have no chance of a seat in the Reformed Parliament, for want ...

— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4) - Lord Macaulay's Speeches • Thomas Babington Macaulay

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