Category:Popularity

Pop`u*lar"i*ty, n.; pl. Popularities. Etym: [l. popularitas an effort To please the people: cf. F. popularité.]

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. A popularity which has lasted down to our time. Macaulay.

2. 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. B. Jonson.

3. Something which obtains, or is intended to obtain, the favor of The vulgar; claptrap. Popularities, and circumstances which. . . sway the ordinary Judgment. Bacon.

4. The act of courting the favor of the people. [obs.] "indicted . . . for popularity and ambition." Holland.

5. Public sentiment; general passion. [r.] A little time be allowed for the madness of popularity to cease. Bancroft.