Fashionable means popular or stylish at a particular time. When something is fashionable, lots of people want it, wear it, or do it because it feels current and appealing.

Fashion changes constantly. In the 1950s, poodle skirts were fashionable. In the 1990s, baggy jeans became the fashionable choice. What seems incredibly fashionable one year might look completely outdated five years later. Even slang words go in and out of fashion: your grandparents probably used fashionable expressions that would sound ridiculous today.

The word applies beyond just clothing. Certain hobbies become fashionable (like when everyone suddenly started playing the same video game), certain names become fashionable (notice how every classroom seems to have three kids with the same trendy name?), and even ideas about how to do things become fashionable.

Being fashionable isn't the same as having good taste or being practical. Sometimes fashionable things are genuinely great, but sometimes they're just popular because everyone else is doing them. A fashionable backpack might cost three times as much as an equally sturdy one that isn't currently trendy. The key is understanding that fashionable describes what's popular now, not necessarily what's best or what will last.