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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pop.

A loud, sharp sound, as of a cork coming out of a bottle, especially when the contents are pressurized by fizziness.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. A loud, sharp sound, as of a cork coming out of a bottle, especially when the contents are pressurized by fizziness.

    countable
    Listen to the pop of a champagne cork.
  2. An effervescent or fizzy drink, most frequently nonalcoholic; soda pop.

    Canada · Inland-Northern-American · Midlands · Midwestern-US · Northern-England · Northwestern · Pennsylvania · US · Western · regional · uncountable
    Lunch was sandwiches and a bottle of pop.
  3. A bottle, can, or serving of effervescent or fizzy drink, most frequently nonalcoholic; a soda pop.

    Canada · Inland-Northern-American · Midwestern-US · Northwestern · Pennsylvania · US · Western · countable · regional
    Go in the store and buy us three pops.
  4. A pop shot: a quick, possibly unaimed, shot with a firearm.

    countable · uncountable
    The man with the gun took a pop at the rabbit.
  5. A quantity dispensed; a portion.

    colloquial · countable · uncountable
    They cost 50 pence a pop.
  6. Something that stands out or is distinctive to the mind or senses.

    countable · uncountable
    a white dress with a pop of red
    a pop of vanilla flavour
  7. The removal of a data item from the top of a stack.

    countable · uncountable
  8. A bird, the European redwing.

    countable · uncountable
  9. The sixth derivative of the position vector with respect to time (after velocity, acceleration, jerk, jounce, crackle), i.e. the rate of change of crackle.

    countable · uncountable
  10. A pistol.

    countable · dated · slang · uncountable
  11. A small, immature peanut, boiled as a snack.

    US · countable · plural · uncountable
  12. Ellipsis of freeze pop.

    abbreviation · alt-of · colloquial · countable · ellipsis · uncountable
  13. A lollipop.

    colloquial · countable · uncountable
  14. A (usually very) loud audience reaction.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  15. The pulling of a string away from the fretboard and releasing it so that it snaps back.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pop, poppe (“a blow; strike; buffet”) (> Middle English poppen (“to strike; thrust”, verb)), of onomatopoeic origin – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions. The physics sense is part of a facetious sequence "snap, crackle, pop", after the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

verb/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. To make a pop, or sharp, quick sound.

    intransitive
    The muskets popped away on all sides.
  2. To burst (something) with a popping sound.

    ergative
    The boy with the pin popped the balloon.
    This corn pops well.
  3. To broach or open (something) in a way that is instantaneous or sudden and that often (literally or notionally) involves a popping sound; to remove (the closure, the lid or top) from something so as to open it in this manner.

    ergative · figuratively
    pop the hood
    pop the cork
  4. To enter, or issue forth, with a quick, sudden movement; to move from place to place suddenly; to dart.

    intransitive · usually
    A rabbit popped out of the hole.
  5. To place (something) (somewhere); to move or position (something) with a short movement.

    Australia · UK · transitive
    Just pop it in the fridge for now.
    He popped his head around the door.
  6. To make a short trip or visit.

    intransitive · often · usually
    I'm just popping round to the newsagent.
    I'll pop by your place later today.
  7. To stand out; to be distinctive to the senses.

    intransitive
    This colour really pops.
  8. To hit (something or someone).

    transitive
    He popped me on the nose.
  9. To shoot (usually somebody) with a firearm.

    slang · transitive
  10. To ejaculate; to orgasm.

    intransitive · slang · vulgar
  11. To remove (a data item) from the top of a stack.

    transitive
  12. To give birth.

    intransitive · slang
  13. To sexually penetrate.

  14. To pawn (something) (to raise money).

    slang · transitive
    I had to pop my watch to see me through until pay-day.
  15. To swallow or consume (especially a tablet of a drug, sometimes extended to other small items such as sweets or candy).

    slang · transitive
  16. To perform (a move or stunt) while riding a board or vehicle.

    informal · transitive
    Pop a U-turn. You missed the turnoff.
  17. To undergo equalization of pressure when the Eustachian tubes open.

    intransitive
    My ears popped as the aeroplane began to ascend.
  18. To perform the popping style of dance.

  19. To arrest.

    slang · transitive
    He's on probation. We can pop him right now for gang association.
  20. To pull a string away from the fretboard and release it so that it snaps back.

  21. To occur or happen.

    slang
    What's popping?
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pop, poppe (“a blow; strike; buffet”) (> Middle English poppen (“to strike; thrust”, verb)), of onomatopoeic origin – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions. The physics sense is part of a facetious sequence "snap, crackle, pop", after the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

intj/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. A loud, sharp sound, as of a cork coming out of a bottle.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English pop, poppe (“a blow; strike; buffet”) (> Middle English poppen (“to strike; thrust”, verb)), of onomatopoeic origin – used to describe the sound, or short, sharp actions. The physics sense is part of a facetious sequence "snap, crackle, pop", after the mascots of Rice Krispies cereal.

noun/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. One's father or sometimes one's grandfather.

    colloquial · endearing
    My pop used to tell me to do my homework every night.
Where this word comes from

From papa or poppa.

adj/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. Popular.

    attributive · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Clipping of popular.

noun/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. Pop music.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Clipping of popular.

noun/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. Population.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Clipping of population.

noun/pɒp/Canada, UK/pɑp/US
  1. A Russian Orthodox parish priest.

    uncommon
Where this word comes from

From colloquial Russian поп (pop) and Попъ (Pop), from Old Church Slavonic попъ (popŭ), from Byzantine Greek πάπας (pápas) (see pope). Doublet of pope.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.