Popularity

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Popularity \Pop`u*lar"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Popularities}. [L.
     popularitas an effort to please the people: cf. F.
     popularit['e].]
     1. 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A popularity which has lasted down to our time.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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     2. The quality or state of being adapted or pleasing to
        common, poor, or vulgar people; hence, cheapness;
        inferiority; vulgarity.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              This gallant laboring to avoid popularity falls into
              a habit of affectation.               --B. Jonson.
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     3. Something which obtains, or is intended to obtain, the
        favor of the vulgar; claptrap.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Popularities, and circumstances which . . . sway the
              ordinary judgment.                    --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The act of courting the favor of the people. [Obs.]
        "Indicted . . . for popularity and ambition." --Holland.
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     5. Public sentiment; general passion. [R.]
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              A little time be allowed for the madness of
              popularity to cease.                  --Bancroft.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  popularity
       n : the quality of being widely admired or accepted or sought
           after; "his charm soon won him affection and popularity";
           "the universal popularity of American movies" [ant: {unpopularity}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  104 Moby Thesaurus words for "popularity":
     Amor, Christian love, Eros, Platonic love, acceptance, acclaim,
     acclamation, admiration, adoration, affection, agape, applause,
     approval, ardency, ardor, attachment, big hand, bodily love,
     bon ton, brotherly love, burst of applause, caritas, celebrity,
     character, charity, cheer, clap, clapping, clapping of hands,
     conjugal love, currency, desire, devotion, eclat, encore, esteem,
     faithful love, fame, famousness, fancy, fashionableness, favor,
     fervor, figure, flame, fondness, free love, free-lovism, glory,
     hand, handclap, handclapping, heart, hero worship, idolatry,
     idolism, idolization, kudos, lasciviousness, libido, like, liking,
     lionization, love, lovemaking, married love, modishness, name,
     notoriety, notoriousness, ovation, passion, physical love, plaudit,
     popular regard, prevalence, publicity, reclame, recognition,
     regard, renown, report, reputation, repute, round of applause,
     sentiment, sex, sexual love, shine, spiritual love, stylishness,
     tender feeling, tender passion, the bubble reputation,
     thunder of applause, trend, trendiness, truelove, uxoriousness,
     vogue, voguishness, weakness, worship, yearning