bubble

/ˈbʌbəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈbɐbəl/

bubble noun: a spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid. Also the ellipsis of travel bubble.

Image: Brocken Inaglory . The image was edited by Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

bubble (plural bubbles)

A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid.

Synonyms:

bull

Antonyms:

antibubble
A small spherical cavity in a solid material.
- bubbles in window glass, or in a lens
(broadly) Anything resembling a hollow sphere.
(figuratively) Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.
- Then a soldier […] / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouthc. 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...
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.
- real estate bubble
- dot-com bubble
(figuratively) 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.
- 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.2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, in BBC
- He’s wrapped up snugly in a cozy bubble of self-regard, talking for his own sake more than anyone else’s.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
Synonyms:

circumstances, ambience
An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.
- Later that day, the unit was staffed with only one officer, who was required to stay in the bubble.1998, District of Columbia Appropriations for 1998: Hearings
(obsolete) Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.
- Gany's a cheat, and I'm a bubble.1709, Matthew Prior, Cupid and Ganymede
- 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.1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1979, page 15
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.
(Cockney, slang) A laugh.
- Are you having a bubble?!
Synonyms:

giraffe, bubble bath
(Cockney, slang) A Greek.

Synonyms:

bubble and squeak

Show 7 more meaningsShow fewer meanings

(historical) Any of the small magnetized areas that make up bubble memory.
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).
- 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.
- bubble watch
(chiefly COVID-19 pandemic) A quarantine environment containing multiple people or facilities isolated from the rest of society.
- "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?"2020 April 7, “Covid 19 coronavirus: Police called after Mt Eden landlord tries to move into flat during lockdown”, in New Zealand Herald
The people who are in this quarantine.
(slang) A bulb or lamp; the part of a lighting assembly that actually produces the light.
- A bare lamp (bulb, globe, 'bubble') radiates light in all directions.2013, Gerald Millerson, Lighting for TV and Film, page 296
(drug paraphernalia) A specialized glass pipe having a sphere-shaped apparatus at one end.

Verb

bubble (third-person singular simple present bubbles, present participle bubbling, simple past and past participle bubbled)

(intransitive) To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling).
- The laminate is bubbling.
(figuratively, intransitive) To churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface.
- 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 […]1853, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Ruth
(figuratively, intransitive) To rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid.
- 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 […]2002, David Flanagan, JavaScript: the definitive guide
(obsolete, rare, transitive) To cover or spread with bubbles
(archaic, rare, transitive) To delude, dupe, or hoodwink; to cheat.
- No, no, friend, I shall never be bubbled out of my religion in hopes only of keeping my place under another government […]1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 443
- 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.1711 June 12, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 89; republished in The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 1, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1842, page 142
(Northern England, Scotland, intransitive) To cry, weep.
(transitive) To pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch.
- Groggily her mind went back through the long hours to 10 P.M. She had fed Junior, bubbled him, diped him—according to plan.1942, McCall’s, volume 69, page 94
- 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.1957, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Be My Guest, page 52
(transitive) To cause to feel as if bubbling or churning.
- 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.1922, Conal O’Riordan, In London: The Story of Adam and Marriage, page 164
- 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.1973, Henry Cecil Walsh, Bonhomme: French-Canadian Stories and Sketches, page 9
(transitive) To express in a bubbly or lively manner.
- Mrs. Hinds beamed at Ipsie through pince-nez and bubbled her joy through thin lips, but Ipsie made no reply.1924, Stella Benson, Pipers and a Dancer, page 14
- Delighted with this promenade, little Edith bubbled her joy without cessation.1934, Inez Haynes Gillmore, Strange Harvest, page 417
(transitive) To form into a protruding round shape.
- She bubbled her lips at Junior and wrinkled her eyes.1929, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 201, page 50
- She hasn’t bubbled her lips yet, has she?1978, Poul Anderson, The Night Face and Other Stories, page 159
(transitive) To cover with bubbles.
- Her mouth hung slightly open and water droplets bubbled her forehead, like oversized sweat.1994, Jonathan Kellerman, Bad Love, page 57
- Tears of thanksgiving bubbled her eyes and blurred her vision.2005, Syne Mitchell, End in Fire, page 187
(transitive) To bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’).
- Cross out answers as you eliminate them, and practice bubbling your answers on the sheet provided at the very end of the book.2011, Allison Amend, Adam Robinson, Cracking the SAT.: Literature Subject Test, page 126
- 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.2014, Cammie McGovern, Say What You Will

Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings

To apply a filter bubble, as to search results.
(intransitive) To join together in a support bubble
(UK, slang, transitive) To grass (report criminal activity to the authorities).

Also used as

bubble is also the ellipsis of travel bubble.

bubble meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bubble in Hindi

spherically contained volume of air or other gas: बुलबुला bulbulā, बुल्ला bullā, बुदबुदा budbudā, फफोला phapholā, बबूला babūlā
small spherical cavity in a solid: बुलबुला bulbulā

bubble in Tamil

spherically contained volume of air or other gas: குமிழி kumiḻi

bubble in Marathi

spherically contained volume of air or other gas: बुडबुडा buḍbuḍā

bubble in Urdu

spherically contained volume of air or other gas: بُلّا bullā, بُلْبُلا bulbulā, پَھپھولا phapholā, بَبُولا babūlā

More languagesFewer languages

bubble in Bengali: বুদ্বুদ budbud
bubble in Telugu: బుడగ buḍaga, బుడ్డ buḍḍa
bubble in Malayalam: കുമിള kumiḷa
bubble in Kannada: ಮರಳು maraḷu
bubble in Punjabi: ਬੁਲਬੁਲਾ bulbulā, ਭੂਪੜਾ bhūpṛā
bubble in Gujarati: બબલ babal
bubble in Odia: ବୁଦ୍ ବୁଦ୍
bubble in Sanskrit: बुद्बुद budbuda
bubble in Sinhala: බුබුළු bubuḷu
bubble in Assamese: বুৰবুৰণি burburoni
bubble in Nepali: बबल babal
bubble in Pashto: حباب ḥubāb
bubble in Tagalog: bula, kulo
bubble in Arabic: فُقَّاعَة fuqqāʕa
bubble in Malay: buih, tempurung
bubble in Indonesian: buih
bubble in Thai: ฟอง fɔɔng
bubble in Vietnamese: bong bóng, sủi
bubble in Myanmar: ပူဖောင်း puhpaung:
Sindhi: بدبدو budibudō
Dhivehi: ބޮކި boki

Examples of bubble in a sentence

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.2017 March 21, Michiko Kakutani, “‘The Death of Expertise’ Explores How Ignorance Became a Virtue”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"We know we're in a bubble," said one Villager interviewed for the film.2022 February 6, Benedict Brook, “Dark side of paradise: 'Sinister' cracks show in perfect suburb”, in NZ Herald:
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.2022 December 31, Sarah Andersen, “The Alt-Right Manipulated My Comic. Then A.I. Claimed It.”, in The New York Times:
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.1759, Laurence Sterne, Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman:

All 40 example sentences with bubble

Synonyms of bubble

Antonyms

antibubble

All synonyms and antonyms of bubble

Forms of bubble

Noun
plural	bubbles
Verb
third-person singular present	bubbles
present participle	bubbling
past participle	bubbled
past	bubbled

Past tense of bubble: bubbled

Plural of bubble: bubbles

Origin of bubble

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.

Phrases with bubble

79 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bubble

Questions about bubble

What does bubble mean?: Bubble means a spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid.
What is bubble in Hindi?: Bubble in Hindi is बुलबुला (bulbulā), बुल्ला (bullā), बुदबुदा (budbudā). See Bubble meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bubble in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is bubble?: Bubble can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce bubble?: Bubble is pronounced /ˈbʌbəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of bubble?: The plural of bubble is bubbles.

Words near bubble in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: bubble (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bubble.wav, en-us-bubble.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bubble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bubble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.