Popular action(Law), an action in which any person may sue for penalty imposed by statute. Blackstone.

Populace
(Pop"u*lace) n. [F. populace, fr. It. popolaccio, popolazzo, fr. popolo people, L. populus. See People.] The common people; the vulgar; the multitude, — comprehending all persons not distinguished by rank, office, education, or profession. Pope.

To . . . calm the peers and please the populace.
Daniel.

They . . . call us Britain's barbarous populaces.
Tennyson.

Syn. — Mob; people; commonalty.

Populacy
(Pop"u*la*cy) n. Populace. [Obs.] Feltham.

Popular
(Pop"u*lar) a. [L. popularis, fr. populus people: cf. F. populaire. See People.]

1. Of or pertaining to the common people, or to the whole body of the people, as distinguished from a select portion; as, the popular voice; popular elections. "Popular states." Bacon. "So the popular vote inclines." Milton.

The men commonly held in popular estimation are greatest at a distance.
J. H. Newman.

2. Suitable to common people; easy to be comprehended; not abstruse; familiar; plain.

Homilies are plain popular instructions.
Hooker.

3. Adapted to the means of the common people; possessed or obtainable by the many; hence, cheap; common; ordinary; inferior; as, popular prices; popular amusements.

The smallest figs, called popular figs, . . . are, of all others, the basest and of least account.
Holland.

4. Beloved or approved by the people; pleasing to people in general, or to many people; as, a popular preacher; a popular law; a popular administration.

5. Devoted to the common people; studious of the favor of the populace. [R.]

Such popular humanity is treason.
Addison.

6. Prevailing among the people; epidemic; as, a popular disease. [Obs.] Johnson.

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