bubble
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbʌb.l̩/
ipa: [ˈbʌ.bl̩]
ipa: /ˈbʌbl̩/
ipa: /ˈbʊb.əl/
rhymes: -ʌbəl
Forms: form: bubbles
Etymology: Partly imitative, also influenced by burble. Compare Middle Dutch bobbe (“bubble”) > Dutch bubbel (“bubble”), Low German bubbel (“bubble”), Danish boble (“bubble”), Swedish bubbla (“bubble”). The word was first used in its economic sense in association with the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, based on the metaphor of an inflated soap bubble bursting.
Senses: synonyms: word: bull
antonyms: antibubble
glosses: A spherically contained volume of air or other gas, especially one made from soapy liquid.
examples: text: bubbles in window glass, or in a lens
glosses: A small spherical cavity in a solid material.
glosses: Anything resembling a hollow sphere.
examples: text: Then a soldier […] / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouth
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:
glosses: Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.
examples: text: real estate bubble
text: dot-com bubble
text: 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.
ref: 2007, Elizabeth Grossman, High Tech Trash, Island Press, →ISBN, page 46:
text: 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.
ref: 2025 October 30, Matteo Wong, Charlie Warzel, “Here’s How the AI Crash Happens”, in The Atlantic:
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: 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: text: 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.
ref: 2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, in BBC:
text: He’s wrapped up snugly in a cozy bubble of self-regard, talking for his own sake more than anyone else’s.
ref: 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in The A.V. Club:
text: 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.
ref: 2017 March 21, Michiko Kakutani, “‘The Death of Expertise’ Explores How Ignorance Became a Virtue”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
text: 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.
ref: 2020 August 27, Kevin Roose, “What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?”, in New York Times:
text: "We know we're in a bubble," said one Villager interviewed for the film. "But it's a nice bubble".
ref: 2022 February 6, Benedict Brook, “Dark side of paradise: 'Sinister' cracks show in perfect suburb”, in NZ Herald:
synonyms: circumstances
ambience
glosses: The emotional or physical atmosphere in which a subject is immersed.
examples: text: Later that day, the unit was staffed with only one officer, who was required to stay in the bubble.
ref: 1998, District of Columbia Appropriations for 1998: Hearings:
glosses: An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.
examples: text: Gany's a cheat, and I'm a bubble.
ref: 1709, Matthew Prior, Cupid and Ganymede:
text: 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.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1979, page 15:
glosses: Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.
glosses: A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.
glosses: The globule of air in the chamber of a spirit level.
examples: text: Are you having a bubble?!
synonyms: giraffe
bubble bath
glosses: A laugh.
synonyms: bubble and squeak
glosses: A Greek.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Any of the small magnetized areas that make up bubble memory.
examples: text: Many players tend to play timidly (not play many hands) around the bubble, to keep their chips and last longer in the game.
topics: card-games
poker
glosses: 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: text: bubble watch
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The cutoff point between qualifying, advancing or being invited to a tournament, or having one's competition end.
examples: text: "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?"
ref: 2020 April 7, “Covid 19 coronavirus: Police called after Mt Eden landlord tries to move into flat during lockdown”, in New Zealand Herald:
qualifier: chiefly COVID-19 pandemic
glosses: A quarantine environment containing multiple people and/or facilities isolated from the rest of society.
glosses: The people who are in this quarantine.
glosses: Ellipsis of travel bubble.
examples: text: A bare lamp (bulb, globe, 'bubble') radiates light in all directions.
ref: 2013, Gerald Millerson, Lighting for TV and Film, page 296:
topics: broadcasting
media
television
glosses: A bulb or lamp; the part of a lighting assembly that actually produces the light.
qualifier: drug paraphernalia
glosses: A specialized glass pipe having a sphere-shaped apparatus at one end.
Derived terms: abubble
air bubble
anger bubble
anti-bubble
antibubble
bubbleable
bubble and squeak
bubble ass
bubble baby disease
bubble baby syndrome
bubble bath
bubble blower
bubble boy
bubble boy disease
bubble boy syndrome
bubble brain
bubble-brained
bubble butt
bubble cake
bubble car
bubble chamber
bubble company
bubble dance
bubble envelope
bubble era
bubble fusion
bubble gum
bubblegum
bubble-gum
bubble gut
bubble guts
bubblehead
bubble-head
bubbleheaded
bubblejet
bubbleless
bubble letter
bubble level
bubblelike
bubble mailer
bubblement
bubble pack
bubble perm
bubble-pink
bubble pipe
bubble position
bubbler
bubble ring
bubble romper
bubble sheet
bubble shell
bubble snail
bubblesome
bubble sort
bubble switch
bubblet
bubble tap
bubble tea
bubble team
bubbletop
bubble under
bubble-up
bubble waffle
bubble wand
bubble water
bubble wrap
bubble-wrap
bubble zone
bubblicious
bubblish
bubblization
bubbly
burst someone's bubble
debubblizer
dot-com bubble
double bubble
double bubble conjecture
double bubble mint
down bubble
energy bubble
Fermi bubble
filter bubble
flight bubble
housing bubble
hubble-bubble
hubble bubble
information technology bubble
Internet bubble
land bubble
lawn bubble
Local Bubble
lose the bubble
macrobubble
microbubble
minibubble
Mississippi Bubble
nanobubble
on the bubble
overbubble
postbubble
prebubble
rebubble
soap bubble
speech bubble
stock bubble
stone bubble
superbubble
support bubble
thought bubble
up bubble
upbubble
vacuum bubble
warp bubble
Westminster bubble
word bubble