soap
Americannoun
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a substance used for washing and cleansing purposes, usually made by treating a fat with an alkali, as sodium or potassium hydroxide, and consisting chiefly of the sodium or potassium salts of the acids contained in the fat.
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any metallic salt of an acid derived from a fat.
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Slang. money, especially as used for bribery in politics.
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Slang. Also soap opera.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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a cleaning or emulsifying agent made by reacting animal or vegetable fats or oils with potassium or sodium hydroxide. Soaps often contain colouring matter and perfume and act by emulsifying grease and lowering the surface tension of water, so that it more readily penetrates open materials such as textiles See also detergent
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any metallic salt of a fatty acid, such as palmitic or stearic acid See also metallic soap
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slang flattery or persuasive talk (esp in the phrase soft soap )
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informal short for soap opera
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slang money, esp for bribery
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slang not possible or successful
verb
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(tr) to apply soap to
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slang
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to flatter or talk persuasively to
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to bribe
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A substance used for washing or cleaning, consisting of a mixture of sodium or potassium salts of naturally occurring fatty acids. Like detergents, soaps work by surrounding particles of grease or dirt with their molecules, thereby allowing them to be carried away. Unlike detergents, soaps react with the minerals common in most water, forming an insoluble film that remains on fabrics. For this reason soap is not as efficient a cleaner as most detergents. The film is also what causes rings to form in bathtubs.
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Compare detergent
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has soapedperfect 3rd person singular
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have soapedperfect
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have been soapingperfect progressive
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are soapingprogressive
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soapssingular 3rd person
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am soapingprogressive 1st person singular
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soapingparticiple
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is soapingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been soapingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
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had soapedperfect
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were soapingprogressive plural
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was soapingprogressive singular
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soapedparticiple
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had been soapingperfect progressive
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soapedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of soap
before 1000; Middle English sope, Old English sāpe, cognate with German Seife, Dutch zeep, all < West Germanic (perhaps ≫ Latin sāpō; cf. saponify)
Explanation
Soap gets bubbly and helps cut through dirt and oil. People use soap for cleaning things like clothes, dishes, hands, and bodies. Don’t bother washing your mouth out with soap, though. It doesn’t get rid of bad words. If you ask a chemist about soap, she'll call it a surfactant, a substance that reduces the surface tension of a liquid, making it spreadable. Think of what happens when you lather up a bar of soap under running water and wash your hands with the lather. Soap is made out of natural fats or oils mixed with lye. The Old English root, sape, originally referred to the red hair dye Germanic warriors used to appear scarier.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What looked like a jumbo Parmesan wheel resting on a marble slab by the door of the Moroccan-style hammam was actually a block of shea-butter soap.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
Firstly, diminishing returns have kicked in - how much more capacity among the public is there really for jaw dropping revelation about the Lord Mandelson soap opera?
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
"Musk was creating noise around this lawsuit but ultimately it was more of a soap opera than a long-term negative for OpenAI," he added.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
You can layer the soap with its corresponding perfume, body lotion and hand cream to build intensity, or, like the other Dries items in your collection, let it stand alone in its sublimity.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
They need water and soap to wash with every now and then, or else they have to struggle with parasites and diseases.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
