pop ‧ u ‧ lar ‧ i ‧ ty /ˌpɒpjəˈlærəti, ˌpɒpjʊˈlærəti $ ˌpɑː-/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ popularity ≠ ↑ unpopularity , ↑ popularization ; verb : ↑ popularize ; adverb : ↑ popularly ; adjective : ↑ popular ≠ ↑ unpopular ]
when something or someone is liked or supported by a lot of people
popularity of
The popularity of the Internet has soared.
The president’s popularity has declined considerably.
gain/grow/increase in popularity (=start to be liked by many people)
Country music is growing in popularity.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ enjoy popularity (=be popular)
The band enjoyed great popularity in the 1980s.
▪ achieve popularity (=become popular)
Her books achieved tremendous popularity on both sides of the Atlantic.
▪ gain/grow/increase in popularity
Extreme sports are growing in popularity.
▪ court popularity (=try to be popular by pleasing people)
It is tempting for politicians to court popularity.
▪ somebody's popularity soars (=increases by a large amount)
Opinion polls showed that his popularity had soared to a record level.
▪ something's popularity declines
As fashions changed, their popularity declined.
■ adjectives
▪ great popularity
His great popularity with British audiences dates from that period.
▪ enormous/tremendous/immense popularity
the enormous popularity of Coca-Cola
▪ widespread/wide popularity (=with a lot of people, or in many places)
Astrology enjoyed widespread popularity.
▪ growing/increasing/rising popularity
This may be the key to explaining Celtic music's increasing popularity.
▪ continuing/enduring popularity
Today, the novel enjoys enduring popularity and ranks among the USA's top-selling books.
▪ personal popularity
While these changes were controversial, his personal popularity remained high.
▪ political popularity
The sagging economy has seriously damaged his political popularity.
■ popularity + NOUN
▪ a popularity contest (=competition to find who the most popular person is)
All election campaigns are popularity contests to some degree.
▪ a popularity poll (=survey to find how popular someone is)
In most popularity polls, he is in fourth or fifth place.
▪ somebody's popularity rating (=how popular someone is according to a poll)
His popularity rating dropped quite dramatically after the events of last year.