Pronunciations (13)
-
/ˈbʌbəl/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
[ˈbʌbəl]
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
[ˈbʌbl̩]
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/ˈbɐbəl/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
-
[ˈbɐ̞bəl]
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
-
[ˈbɐ̞bl̩]
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
-
/ˈbəbəl/
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
-
[ˈbəbəl]
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
-
[ˈbəbl̩]
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
-
/ˈbʊbəl/
Pronunciation notes
- Ireland
- Northern-England
-
[ˈbʊbəl]
Pronunciation notes
- Ireland
- Northern-England
-
[ˈbʊbl̩]
Pronunciation notes
- Ireland
- Northern-England
-
ˈbʌb.əl
Noun
A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid.
- Antonyms
A small spherical cavity in a solid material.
- Examples
-
bubbles in window glass, or in a lens
Anything resembling a hollow sphere.
Usage- broadly
Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
-
Then a soldier […] / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouth
A period of intense speculation in a market, causing prices to rise quickly to irrational levels as the metaphorical bubble expands, and then fall even more quickly as the bubble bursts.
- Examples
-
real estate bubble
dot-com bubble
More examples (2)
Thanks to the proliferation of semiconductor chips and cell phones—the number of U.S. cell phones grew from essentially zero in 1983 to nearly two hundred million by the end of 2004, and as of 2003 over one billion cell phones were in use worldwide, so by the time the high-tech bubble approached its bursting point in 2000 and 2001, coltan had become an extremely hot commodity.
The yawning gap between data-center expenditures and the rest of the economy has caused whispers of bubble to rise to a chorus. […] Rapid construction of canals, railroads, and the fiber-optic cables laid during the dot-com bubble all created frenzies of hype, investment, and financial speculation that crashed markets.
The emotional or physical atmosphere in which a subject is immersed; especially, a homogeneous atmosphere in which subjects are spared exposure to culture or ideas different from their own.
Usage- Figurative
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Thomas, so often West Brom's most positive attacker down their left side and up against Salgado, twice almost burst the bubble of excitement around the ground but he had two efforts superbly saved by Robinson.
He’s wrapped up snugly in a cozy bubble of self-regard, talking for his own sake more than anyone else’s.
More examples (3)
Do you live in a bubble? There exists a new upper class that's completely disconnected from the average white American and American culture at large, argues Charles Murray, a libertarian political scientist and author.
Citizens of all political persuasions (not to mention members of the Trump administration) can increasingly live in their own news media bubbles, consuming only views similar to their own.
Inside the right-wing Facebook bubble, President Trump’s response to Covid-19 has been strong and effective, Joe Biden is barely capable of forming sentences, and Black Lives Matter is a dangerous group of violent looters.
"We know we're in a bubble," said one Villager interviewed for the film. "But it's a nice bubble".
An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.
- Examples
-
Later that day, the unit was staffed with only one officer, who was required to stay in the bubble.
Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
-
Gany's a cheat, and I'm a bubble.
For no woman, sure, will plead the passion of love for an excuse. This would be to own herself the mere tool and bubble of the man.
A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.
The globule of air in the chamber of a spirit level.
A laugh.
Usage- Cockney
- Slang
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Are you having a bubble?!
A Greek.
Usage- Cockney
- Slang
- Synonyms
Any of the small magnetized areas that make up bubble memory.
Usage- Historical
In a poker tournament, the point before which eliminated players receive no prize money and after which they do; the situation where all remaining players are guaranteed prize money (in this case, the players are said to have made the bubble); the situation where all remaining players will be guaranteed prize money after some small number of players are eliminated (in this case, the players are said to be on the bubble).
- Examples
-
Many players tend to play timidly (not play many hands) around the bubble, to keep their chips and last longer in the game.
The cutoff point between qualifying, advancing or being invited to a tournament, or having one's competition end.
- Examples
-
bubble watch
A quarantine environment containing multiple people or facilities isolated from the rest of society.
- Examples
-
"There was an empty room and this is my house," Mark Philip told the Herald. "Where am I supposed to go? Whose bubble am I supposed to infect?"
The people who are in this quarantine.
A bulb or lamp; the part of a lighting assembly that actually produces the light.
Usage- Slang
- Examples
-
A bare lamp (bulb, globe, 'bubble') radiates light in all directions.
A specialized glass pipe having a sphere-shaped apparatus at one end.
Verb
To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling).
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
The laminate is bubbling.
To churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Rage bubbled inside him.
The blood bubbled up to her brain, and made such a sound there, as of boiling waters, that she did not hear the words which Mr. Bradshaw first spoke […]
More examples (1)
With some technical improvement, I could see how the process of imitating my work would soon become fast and streamlined, and the many dark potentials bubbled to the forefront of my mind.
To rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Examples
-
The target of this event is the most deeply nested common ancestor of all changes that occurred in the document, and it bubbles up the document tree […]
To cover or spread with bubbles
Usage- Obsolete
- Rare
- Transitive
To delude, dupe, or hoodwink; to cheat.
Usage- Archaic
- Rare
- Transitive
- Examples
-
No, no, friend, I shall never be bubbled out of my religion in hopes only of keeping my place under another government […]
More examples (2)
He tells me with great passion that she has bubbled him out of his youth; that she drilled him on to five and fifty [years old], and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.
I need not tell your Worships, that this was done with so much cunning and artifice, —that the great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was nevertheless bubbled here.
To cry, weep.
Usage- Northern-England
- Scotland
- Intransitive
To pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Groggily her mind went back through the long hours to 10 P.M. She had fed Junior, bubbled him, diped him—according to plan.
More examples (1)
I walked him, pushed him, pulled him, and “bubbled” him, drawing the line at changing him, and found that the ability to bring actual happiness to another being’s face, even such a small red one, simply by walking into the room, made me feel ten feet tall.
Mother sat up, picked up baby, put him on shoulder, bubbled him.
To cause to feel as if bubbling or churning.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
More examples (2)
It seemed to Adam that he felt the blood in his toes creeping up his legs and body until it reached his brain where, finding it could go no farther, it bubbled him into dumbness: it added to his confusion to know that he looked as if some such accident had befallen his circulation.
A few minutes more would give him his first glimpse of the village wherein, many months before, he had left his wife and little ones. Anticipation bubbled him into song, and he broke forth into—A la claire fontaine M’en allant promener.
The frothing sensation bubbled him all over, a boiling without heat or any sound or light.
To express in a bubbly or lively manner.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Mrs. Hinds beamed at Ipsie through pince-nez and bubbled her joy through thin lips, but Ipsie made no reply.
Delighted with this promenade, little Edith bubbled her joy without cessation.
More examples (3)
“She’s a little girl like me,” Beth bubbled. “Her name is Buttons, ’cause she has a small nose. And she has a twin, too, just like me. Only my twin’s name is Carly.”
Rachel bubbled her thanks and brushed past the Reverend, me in tow.
But Ms. Loomat, far from a negative reaction, bubbled her joy at the news even congratulating Ms Lee on her acquisition.
To form into a protruding round shape.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
She bubbled her lips at Junior and wrinkled her eyes.
She hasn’t bubbled her lips yet, has she?
More examples (1)
I didn’t see much connection between the Bunnies and Michelle—something bubbled her blouses, and I’d heard her whisper with my sister about training bras, but her body was angular, skinny.
To cover with bubbles.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Her mouth hung slightly open and water droplets bubbled her forehead, like oversized sweat.
Tears of thanksgiving bubbled her eyes and blurred her vision.
More examples (1)
Oily beads of sweat bubbled his forehead.
To bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Cross out answers as you eliminate them, and practice bubbling your answers on the sheet provided at the very end of the book.
They bubbled her answers on Scantron tests, changed her sanitary napkins, helped her get in and out of the bathroom with a minimum of fuss.
More examples (1)
You don’t want to go back and forth between the test booklet and your answer sheet to bubble your answers.
To apply a filter bubble, as to search results.
To join together in a support bubble
Usage- Intransitive
To grass (report criminal activity to the authorities).
Usage- UK usage
- Slang
- Transitive
Noun
a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide)
- Broader terms
a speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
his proposal was nothing but a house of cards
a real estate bubble
an impracticable and illusory idea
- Examples
-
he didn't want to burst the newcomer's bubble
a dome-shaped covering made of transparent glass or plastic
- Broader terms
Verb
form, produce, or emit bubbles
- Examples
-
The soup was bubbling
flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise
- Examples
-
babbling brooks
rise in bubbles or as if in bubbles
- Examples
-
bubble to the surface
cause to form bubbles
- Examples
-
bubble gas through a liquid
expel gas from the stomach
- Examples
-
Please don't burp at the table