fishbowl

or fish bowl

[ fish-bohl ]

noun

1. a glass bowl for goldfish, snails, etc.
2. a place, job, or condition in which one's activities are open to public view or scrutiny.

fishbowl

/ ˈfɪʃˌbəʊl /

noun

1. See goldfish bowl
   another name for goldfish bowl

Word History and Origins

Origin of fishbowl¹

First recorded in 1905–10; fish + bowl ¹

Example Sentences

You stuck with me when I didn’t really know what I was doing, and I grew up in this fishbowl.

From Washington Blade

Then the pandemic exiled almost all of teenage social life to that online fishbowl.

From Washington Post

I physically felt like I was in a fishbowl, and I was sitting on the couch with one of my best friends and Julie Fucking Andrews.

From The Daily Beast

She simply doesn't want to live her life in that fishbowl, and who can blame her?

From The Daily Beast

Reporters call it "the fishbowl": the building is curved, and the entire area is fronted by glass.

From The Daily Beast

Within the political fishbowl, Alicia is under as much scrutiny as Carrie, in a way.

From The Daily Beast

The first of those questions is a matter of personal fascination over the ability to keep secrets in a fishbowl environment.

From The Daily Beast

He clamped his fishbowl on tight, opened the door, and sprinted toward Corridor C.

From Project Gutenberg

De Hooch kept on running, his breath rasping loudly in the confines of the fishbowl helmet.

From Project Gutenberg

I reached down to the neck-fastenings on the fishbowl, and McCann finally moved.

From Project Gutenberg

There were no walls, just the rounded dome like a fishbowl turned upside down on him.

From Project Gutenberg

I'd noticed a smeared spot about nose-level on the faceplate of my fishbowl, and now was as good a time as any to get rid of it.

From Project Gutenberg