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popularity |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [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}]
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