| word | vox populi |
|---|---|
| definition | Popular sentiment or opinion. |
| eg_sentence | Successful politicians are always listening to the vox populi and adjusting their opinions or language accordingly. |
| explanation | Dating from at least the time of Charlemagne, the Latin saying “Vox populi, vox Dei” means literally “The voice of the people is the voice of God”—in other words, the people's voice is sacred, or the people are always right. Today, by means of modern opinion polls, we seem to hear the vox populi (or vox pop for short) year-round on every possible issue. But maybe we should occasionally keep in mind that full Charlemagne-era quotation: “Those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness.” |
| IPA | vɑks populi* |
Tags: mwvb::unit:12, mwvb::unit:12:word, mwvb::word, mwvb::word-cloze, mwvb::word-reverse, obsidian_to_anki
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