What does "popularist" mean?
An artist or composer whose work appeals to popular tastes.
Popularist
adj, noun
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An artist or composer whose work appeals to popular tastes.
- Grammar: popularist is listed as adj, noun.
- Usage evidence: There have been others, of course, antagonistic to established authority, whose philosophy has been anything but popularist, but it is not the popularist basis of Benn's antiauthoritarianism that is peculiar.
How to use "popularist"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "popularist" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
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- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "popularist" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "popularist" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "popularist" is acting as adj, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An artist or composer whose work appeals to popular tastes.
"Three composers in the study are undoubted popularists."
- 2 One who adapts and popularizes a subject.
"Here, she has no greater debt than to Sylvester Graham, originally a New Jersey minister who found a more successful calling as the popularist of what his magnum opus summarily entitled The New Science of Human Life."
- 3 On who advocates populism.
"The so-called 'popularists' attempted to exploit the urge of the masses of the Western Ukrainian lands for enlightenment and cultural education in their native tongue in order to strengthen the dominant position of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie."
- 4 One who explains social phenomena in terms of popular responses and habits.
"Despite the paucity of early psychological research on the consequences of job transfers, popularists have been quick to point to the negative consequences of transfer: heart attacks in men, depression in women, maladjustment in children."
Adjective
- 1 Reflecting popular taste and opinion.
"There have been others, of course, antagonistic to established authority, whose philosophy has been anything but popularist, but it is not the popularist basis of Benn's antiauthoritarianism that is peculiar."
Example
"There have been others, of course, antagonistic to established authority, whose philosophy has been anything but popularist, but it is not the popularist basis of Benn's antiauthoritarianism that is peculiar."
Common questions
How do you use "popularist" in a sentence?
There have been others, of course, antagonistic to established authority, whose philosophy has been anything but popularist, but it is not the popularist basis of Benn's antiauthoritarianism that is peculiar.
Etymology
From popular + -ist.