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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)