soap bubble
Americannoun
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a bubble of soapsuds.
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something that lacks substance or permanence.
noun
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a bubble formed from soapy water
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something that is ephemeral but attractive
Etymology
Origin of soap bubble
First recorded in 1805–15
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.
Try as one might to keep Nico Iamaleava under wraps, the media viewing sessions at UCLA’s football training camp shorter than the lifespan of a soap bubble, several trends have emerged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
Our cells are surrounded by a fragile membrane that's only 5 nanometers thick, 1/20 of a soap bubble.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 22, 2024
Over billions of years, gravity pulled additional material into those baryon-dense regions, and galaxies and galactic clusters preferentially formed along their boundaries in thin shells like dust settling on a soap bubble.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 27, 2023
She would be washing the dishes at home, the thought floating by like a stray soap bubble: Could she, Jessie Buckley, muster the courage to take on a role like Mariche?
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2023
They had been gold at first, but now I saw how they shone iridescently— like the rainbow colors you see on a soap bubble if you look at it from the right angle.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
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.
