Standard Lemma guide

populism

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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A political doctrine or philosophy that proposes that the rights and powers of ordinary people are exploited by a privileged elite, and supports their struggle to overcome this.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The practice of appealing to the interests of the common people.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, derogatory, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: doctrine, philosophy, philosophical system, school of thought, ism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *poplos Old Latin populus Latin populus Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English populism From Latin populus + English -ism.

Across languages

Translations

80 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: popullizëm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Arabic: شَعْبَوِيَّة (šaʕbawiyya) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Armenian: պոպուլիզմ (populizm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Azerbaijani: populizm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Azerbaijani: xalqçılıq — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Belarusian: папулі́зм (papulízm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Bengali: জনতুষ্টিবাদ (jonotuśṭibad) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Bulgarian: попули́зъм (populízǎm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Catalan: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Hakka Chinese: 民粹主義 /民粹主义 (mìn-chhui chú-ngi) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Hakka Chinese: 平民主義 /平民主义 (phìn-mìn chú-ngi) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Chinese: 民粹主義 /民粹主义 (pêng-bîn chú-gī) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Chinese: 平民主義 /平民主义 (bîn-chhùi chú-gī) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 民粹主義 /民粹主义 (míncuìzhǔyì) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 平民主義 /平民主义 (píngmínzhǔyì) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Czech: populismus — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Danish: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Dutch: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Estonian: populism — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Finnish: populismi — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • French: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Galician: populismo — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Georgian: პოპულიზმი (ṗoṗulizmi) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • German: Populismus — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Greek: λαϊκισμός (laïkismós) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Hebrew: פּוֹפּוּליזם (populízm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Hindi: लोकलुभावनवाद (loklubhāvanvād) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Hungarian: populizmus — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Icelandic: popúlismi — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Icelandic: lýðhyggja — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Indonesian: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Irish: pobalachas — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Japanese: ポピュリズム (popyurizumu) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Japanese: 大衆主義 — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Japanese: 人民主義 — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Kazakh: халықшылдық (xalyqşyldyq) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Kazakh: популизм (populizm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Khmer: ប្រជានិយម (prɑɑciə niyum) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Korean: 포퓰리즘 (popyullijeum) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Korean: 민사주의 (minsajuui) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Korean: 평민주의 (pyeongminjuui) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Korean: 대중주의 (daejungjuui) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Northern Kurdish: gelperestî — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Northern Kurdish: gelkîtî — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Northern Kurdish: popûlîzm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Kyrgyz: популизм (populizm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Lao: ປະຊານິຍົມ (pa sā ni nyom) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Latin: populismus — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Latvian: populisms — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Lithuanian: populizmas — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Macedonian: попули́зам (populízam) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Malay: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Mongolian: популизм (populizm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Norwegian Bokmål: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: populisme — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Iranian Persian: عَوامگَرایی (avâm-garâyi) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Iranian Persian: پوپولیسْم (populism) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Polish: populizm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Portuguese: populismo — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Romanian: populism — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Russian: попули́зм (populízm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Russian: наро́дничество (naródničestvo) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: популѝзам — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: populizam — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Sinhalese: ජනතාවාදය (janatāwādaya) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Slovak: populizmus — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Slovene: populizem — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Spanish: populismo — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Swedish: populism — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Tagalog: populismo — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Tajik: популизм (populizm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Tajik: авомгароӣ (avomgaroyi) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Thai: ประชานิยม (bprà-chaa-ní-yom) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Turkish: halkçılık — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Turkish: popülizm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Turkmen: populizm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Ukrainian: популі́зм (populízm) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Uyghur: خەلقچىلىك (xelqchilik) — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Uzbek: populizm — a political doctrine or philosophy
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa dân tuý — a political doctrine or philosophy