different between popular vs population

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus. Doublet of poblacion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?pj??le???n/
• IPA^(key): /p?pju??le???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

population (plural populations)

1. The people living within a political or geographical boundary.

2. (by extension) The people with a given characteristic.

3. A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.

4. (biology) A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area.

5. (statistics) A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.
   • 1883, Francis Galton et al., Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee, Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 269.

     […] it is possible it [the Anglo-Saxon race] might stand second to the Scandinavian countries [in average height] if a fair sample of their population were obtained.

6. (computing) The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.

Related terms

• popular
• populate
• populous

Translations

Danish

Noun

population

1. (statistics) population

Declension

See also

• stikprøve (“sample”)

French

Etymology

Borrowing from Late Latin popul?ti?, popul?ti?nem from Latin populus (“people”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.py.la.sj??/

Noun

population f (plural populations)

1. A population

Related terms

• populaire
• populeux
• peuple

Further reading

• “population” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Interlingua

Noun

population (plural populationes)

1. population