goldfish bowl

British  

noun

1. Also called: fishbowl. a glass bowl, typically spherical, in which fish are kept as pets

2. a place or situation open to observation by onlookers

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goldfish bowl Idioms  

1. A situation affording no privacy, as in Being in a goldfish bowl comes with the senator's job—there's no avoiding it. The glass bowl allowing one to view goldfish from every direction was transferred first, in the 1920s, to a police interrogation room equipped with a one-way mirror. By the mid-1900s the expression was being used more broadly.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

goldfish bowl

Football in Glasgow's goldfish bowl has a habit of being unnecessarily dramatised, yet there is a case for saying a week in mid-September could have a defining impact on Celtic's season.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

England have remained relaxed despite being in the goldfish bowl.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2024

“It’s understandable that Prince Harry chose to leave and pursue a private life. What happens if Prince George thinks that Uncle Harry was right and it’s not worth living in a goldfish bowl? What then?”

From Washington Post ● May 2, 2023

"They cannot escape the goldfish bowl they grew up in, and only they can truly understand what’s it really like to be raised that way," he said.

From Fox News ● Mar. 23, 2022

There's a big old TV with a doily on the top, and an empty goldfish bowl, and piles of newspapers tied up neat with string, and a Bible on this little table by the TV.

From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick

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