Phrase guide

popular music

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any genre of music that has wide appeal amongst the general public of a society, typically distributed widely by the music industry; typically as seen in contrast to classical music and folk music.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Synonym of pop music.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pop music

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

any genre of music having wide appeal (but usually only for a short time)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: popular music genre

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: music genre, musical genre, genre, musical style

Narrower terms: disco, disco music, macumba, pop music, pop, folk music, ethnic music, folk, dance music, danceroom music, ballroom music, jazz, rap, rap music, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, R and B, rockabilly, rock 'n' roll, rock'n'roll, rock-and-roll, rock and roll, rock, rock music, reggae, skiffle

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُوسِيقَى الْبُوب (mūsīqā l-būb) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Arabic: بُوب (būb) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Arabic: بُوب (pop) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Carpathian Rusyn: попула́рна му́зика (populárna múzyka) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Chinese Mandarin: 流行音樂 /流行音乐 (liúxíng yīnyuè) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Finnish: populaarimusiikki — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Finnish: pop — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Finnish: pop-musiikki — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • French: musique populaire — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Galician: música popular — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Georgian: პოპულარული მუსიკა (ṗoṗularuli musiḳa) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Georgian: პოპ-მუსიკა (ṗoṗ-musiḳa) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Georgian: პოპი (ṗoṗi) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • German: populäre Musik — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Hungarian: könnyűzene — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Italian: musica popolare — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Japanese: ポピュラー音楽 (popyurā ongaku) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Japanese: ポピュラー・ミュージック (popyurā-myūjikku) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Korean: 대중음악 (daejung'eumak) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Korean: 팝 음악 (pap eumak) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Māori: puoro arotini — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Norwegian Bokmål: populærmusikk — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: populærmusikk — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Polish: muzyka rozrywkowa — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Portuguese: música popular — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Russian: популя́рная му́зыка (populjárnaja múzyka) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Russian: поп-му́зыка (pop-múzyka) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Russian: поп (pop) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Russian: попса́ (popsá) — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Spanish: música popular — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Swedish: populärmusik — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Vietnamese: nhạc đại chúng — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music
  • Vietnamese: nhạc phổ thông — genre that has wide appeal amongst the general public — see also pop music