different between popular vs ordinary

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin popul?ris, from populus (“people”) + -?ris (“-ar”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?pj?l?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?pj?l??/

Adjective

popular (comparative more popular, superlative most popular)

1. Common among the general public; generally accepted. [from 15th c.]
   • 2007, Joe Queenan, The Guardian, 23 Aug 2007:

     Contrary to popular misconception, MacArthur Park is not the worst song ever written.

2. (law) Concerning the people; public. [from 15th c.]
3. Pertaining to or deriving from the people or general public. [from 16th c.]
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Preface:

     At the coming of Calvin thither, the form of their civil regiment was popular, as it continueth at this day: neither king, nor duke, nor nobleman of any authority or power over them, but officers chosen by the people out of themselves, to order all things with public consent.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, page 645:

     Luther in popular memory had become a saint, his picture capable of saving houses from burning down, if it was fixed to the parlour wall.

   • 2009, Graham Smith, The Guardian, letter, 27 May 2009:

     Jonathan Freedland brilliantly articulates the size and nature of the challenge and we must take his lead in setting out a radical agenda for a new republic based on the principle of popular sovereignty.

4. (obsolete) Of low birth, not noble; vulgar, plebian. [16th-17th c.]
5. Aimed at ordinary people, as opposed to specialists etc.; intended for general consumption. [from 16th c.]
   • 2009, ‘Meltdown’, The Economist, 8 Apr 2009:

     As a work of popular science it is exemplary: the focus may be the numbers, but most of the mathematical legwork is confined to the appendices and the accompanying commentary is amusing and witty, as well as informed.

6. (obsolete) Cultivating the favour of the common people. [16th-18th c.]
   • 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato, A Tragedy

     Such popular humanity is treason.

7. Liked by many people; generally pleasing, widely admired. [from 17th c.]
   • 2011, The Observer, 2 Oct.:

     They might have split 24 years ago, but the Smiths remain as popular as ever, and not just among those who remember them first time around.
8. Adapted to the means of the common people; cheap. [from 19th c.]

Antonyms

• anonymous
• unpopular

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

popular (plural populars)

1. A person who is popular, especially at a school.
   • 2002, Stephen Tropiano, The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, Hal Leonard Corporation (?ISBN):

     To pass time, Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels), the most vicious of the populars, decides they should play a little game. Earlier that day, in their feminist studies class, the women were discussing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, a novel ...

2. (chiefly in the plural) An inexpensive newspaper with wide circulation.
   • 1983, Jeremy Tunstall, The Media in Britain, Columbia University Press (?ISBN), page 75:

     Serious newspapers boomed; the populars became tabloid supplements to television, with the television schedules and related features increasingly the core of the newspaper.

3. A member of the Populares
   • 1843, Thucydides, “The” History of the Grecian War, Translated by Thomas Hobbes, page 415:

     [...] when their ambassadors were come from Samos, and that they saw not only the populars, but also some others of their own party thought trusty before, to be now changed.

References

• popular at OneLook Dictionary Search
• popular in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "popular" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 236.
• popular in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• popular in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin popularis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /po.pu?la/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /pu.pu?lar/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /po.pu?la?/

Adjective

popular (masculine and feminine plural populars)

1. popular (of the common people)
2. popular (well-known, well-liked)

Derived terms

• popularitzar
• popularment

Related terms

• poble
• popularitat

Further reading

• “popular” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Chavacano

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish popular (“popular”).

Adjective

popular

1. popular

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin popul?ris.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?po.pu.?la?/
• Hyphenation: po?pu?lar

Adjective

popular m or f (plural populares, comparable)

1. popular (liked by many people)

2. popular (relating to the general public)

3. popular (aimed at ordinary people)

4. (by extension) popular; affordable

   Synonym: barato

5. (politics) democratic (involving the participation of the general public)

   Synonym: democrático

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:popular.

Related terms

• povo

Noun

popular m (plural populares)

1. (formal) civilian (a person who is not working in the police or armed forces)

   Synonym: civil

Noun

popular f (plural populares)

1. cheap accommodation

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?po.pu.?la(?)/
• Hyphenation: po?pu?lar

Verb

popular (first-person singular present indicative populo, past participle populado)

1. (databases) to populate (to add initial data to [a database])
2. (rare) Synonym of povoar

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin popularis, French populaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /po.pu?lar/

Adjective

popular m or n (feminine singular popular?, masculine plural populari, feminine and neuter plural populare)

1. popular (of the people)
2. popular (well-liked)

Declension

Related terms

• popula
• popularitate
• populism
• populist
• popor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin popul?ris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /popu?la?/, [po.pu?la?]
• Hyphenation: po?pu?lar

Adjective

popular (plural populares)

1. popular
2. (politics, Spain) Pertaining to PP (Partido Popular), a Spanish political party

Derived terms

Related terms

• popularidad
• populismo
• populista
• pueblo

Noun

popular m or f (plural populares)

1. (politics, Spain) a member or supporter of PP (Partido Popular), a Spanish political party

Further reading

• “popular” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Alternative forms

• ordinarie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman ordenarie, ordenaire et al., Middle French ordinaire, and their source, Medieval Latin ordinarius, noun use of Latin ?rdin?rius (“regular, orderly”), from ?rd? (“order”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???d?n??i/, /???d?n?i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???d?n??i/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /???d?n?(?)?i/
• Hyphenation: or?di?na?ry, or?din?ary

Noun

ordinary (plural ordinaries)

1. A person with authority; authority, ordinance.
   1. (ecclesiastical, law) A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese. [from 14th c.]
   2. (obsolete) A devotional manual; a book setting our rules for proper conduct. [15th–17th c.]
   3. (obsolete) A courier; someone delivering mail or post. [16th–19th c.]
      • 1819, Lord Byron, Letter, 15 May:

        I […] will lay to till you come within hail […] but pray respond by the first ordinary.

   4. (Christianity) A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass. [from 16th c.]
   5. (law) A judge with the authority to deal with cases himself or herself rather than by delegation. [from 17th c.]
   6. (now historical) The chaplain of Newgate prison, who prepared condemned prisoners for death. [from 17th c.]
      • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford 2008, p. 811:

        ‘He died with pious composure and resolution. I have just seen the Ordinary that attended him.’

2. Something ordinary or regular.
   1. (obsolete) Customary fare, one's regular daily allowance of food; (hence) a regular portion or allowance. [15th–19th c.]
   2. (now chiefly historical) A meal provided for a set price at an eating establishment. [from 16th c.]
      • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol II, ch. 43:

        In short, Mr. Jolter could give a very good account of the stages on the road, and […] was a connoisseur in ordinaries, from twelve to five and thirty livres […] .

      • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 169:

        Here he recommended me to fix my board, there being an excellent ordinary daily at two o'clock, at which I might dine or not as I pleased.

   3. (now archaic, historical) A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn. [from 16th c.]
      • , II.2.4, 1847, page 315,

        We are most part too inquisitive and apt to hearken after news, which Cæsar, in his Commentaries, observes of the old Gauls, they would be inquiring of every carrier and passenger what they had heard or seen, what news abroad? […] as at an ordinary with us, bakehouse, or barber's shop.

      • 1712, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, page 288,

        Thus furnished, they come up to town, reckon all their errors for accomplishments, borrow the newest set of phrases ; and if they take a pen into their hands, all the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.

      • 1899, Bancroft, Richard Garnett, Léon Vallée, Alois Brandl (editors), The Universal Anthology, page 320,

        He enjoyed a perpetual port duty of fourteen pence a ton, on vessels not owned in the province, yielding not far from five thousand dollars a year; and he exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries.

      • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p.1,

        it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.

   5. (heraldry) One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess. [from 16th c.]
   6. An ordinary person or thing; something commonplace. [from 16th c.]
      • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

        Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Countries, which were grown into an ordinary

      • water-buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, candlesticks, and other ordinaries

   7. (now Scotland, Ireland) The usual course of things; normal condition or health; a standard way of behaviour or action. [from 16th c.]
      • 1622, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 5, 1800, The Plays of William Shakspeare, Volume 8, page 287,

        I ?ee no more in you than in the ordinary / Of nature's ?alework.

   8. (now historical) A penny-farthing bicycle. [from 19th c.]

Translations

Adjective

ordinary (comparative more ordinary, superlative most ordinary)

1. (law, of a judge) Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
2. Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
   • a. 1719, Joseph Addison, 1741, The Works of the Late Honourable Joseph Addison, E?q., Volume 3, page 545,

     Method is not le?s requi?ite in ordinary conver?ation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make him?elf under?tood.

3. Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.
   • a. 1859, Thomas Macaulay, "Samuel Johnson," in 1871, Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay Trevelyan, editor), The Works of Lord Macaulay Complete, Volume 7, page 325,

     An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way: but much that was dull to ordinary lads was interesting to Samuel.
4. (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, informal) Bad or undesirable.
   • 1983 September 20, Bruce Stannard, Australia II Joins Our Greats, The Age, republished 2003, David Headon (editor), The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection, page 480,

     It was, in some ways a sad, almost pathetic sight to see this great American boat which had fought so hard throughout the cup summer, now looking very ordinary indeed.

   • 1961, Joanna White, quoted in 2005, A. James Hammerton, Alistair Thomson, Ten Pound Poms: Australia?s Invisible Migrants, page 80,

     For myself, I loved adventure and travelling. I?d already done quite a bit of travelling in Europe and — couldn?t get enough of it and whilst my marriage, at that stage, was very happy, he was very entrenched as a Londoner, Cockney, absolutely Cockney Londoner, and I could see that our future was pretty ordinary and so my hidden agenda I suppose was to drag him out to Australia and hope that both our lifestyles would improve and there would be new opportunities.

   • 2007, Chris Viner-Smith, Australia?s Forgotten Frontier: The Unsung Police Who Held Our PNG Front Line, page 28,

     Everyone started making suggestions as to what to do but they were all pretty ordinary ideas such as lighting a fire and hope someone would see the smoke and come to rescue us and so on.

   • 2010, Mal Bryce, Australia's First Online Community Ipswich Queensland, page 125,

     Since the general public gained access to the Internet in 1993-4, firstly by narrowband dial-up access and since 1998 by very ordinary, so-called broadband speeds (generally less than 1 Mbps), a social and cultural revolution has been underway.

Antonyms

• (having no special characteristics): extraordinary, special

Derived terms

• ordinarily, ordinariness
• ordinary differential equation, ordinary number, ordinary seaman
• in ordinary
• out of the ordinary

Translations

Further reading

• "ordinary" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 225.