bubble

/ˈbʌbəl/

/ˈbʌbəl/

Other forms: bubbles; bubbling; bubbled

A bubble is a floating ball of air. You can also blow a bubble with gum. If you’re in your own little bubble, you’re living in a fantasy, separated from the rest of the world by a thin layer of your imagination.

Whether you're blowing bubbles in the park or enjoying a bubble bath, those physical bubbles are made of liquid and gas. If something bubbles up, it comes to the surface. That can be an actual bubble or a just a feeling. A bubble can also be an idea that won’t work either because it’s a fantasy or because it’s an uncontrollable scheme, like a housing or economic bubble. The thing about bubbles is that they burst.

Definitions of bubble

1. noun

   a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide)
   types:

   air bubble

   a bubble of air

   foam, froth

   a mass of small bubbles formed in or on a liquid

   soap bubble

   a bubble formed by a thin soap film

   shaving foam

   toiletry consisting of a liquid preparation containing many small bubbles that soften the beard before shaving

   head

   the foam or froth that accumulates at the top when you pour an effervescent liquid into a container

   lather

   the foam resulting from excessive sweating (as on a horse)

   lather, soapsuds, suds

   the froth produced by soaps or detergents

   spume

   foam or froth on the sea

   white water, whitewater

   frothy water as in rapids or waterfalls

   type of:

   globule

   a small globe or ball
2. noun

   a dome-shaped covering made of transparent glass or plastic
   type of:

   covering

   an artifact that covers something else (usually to protect or shelter or conceal it)
3. verb

   form, produce, or emit bubbles
   “The soup was bubbling”

   types:

   effervesce, fizz, foam, form bubbles, froth, sparkle

   become bubbly or frothy or foaming

   lather

   form a lather

   seethe

   foam as if boiling

   type of:

   breathe, emit, pass off

   expel (gases or odors)
4. verb

   expel gas from the stomach
   synonyms: belch, burp, eruct

   type of:

   breathe, emit, pass off

   expel (gases or odors)
5. verb

   cause to form bubbles
   “bubble gas through a liquid”

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
6. verb

   rise in bubbles or as if in bubbles
   “bubble to the surface”

   type of:

   arise, come up, go up, lift, move up, rise, uprise

   move upward
7. verb

   flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise
   synonyms: babble, burble, guggle, gurgle, ripple

   gurgle

   make sounds similar to gurgling water

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound
8. noun

   an impracticable and illusory idea
   “he didn't want to burst the newcomer's bubble”

   type of:

   fancy, fantasy, illusion, phantasy

   something many people believe that is false
9. noun

   a speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control
   “a real estate bubble”

   synonyms: house of cards

   type of:

   scheme, strategy

   an elaborate and systematic plan of action