soap
Americannoun
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soaps
plural
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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)
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soaps,
present (3rd person singular)
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soaped,
past participle, past
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soaping
present participle
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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soapsimple
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soapssimple
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have soapedperfect
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has soapedperfect
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am soapingprogressive
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are soapingprogressive
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is soapingprogressive
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have been soapingperfect progressive
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has been soapingperfect progressive
Past
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soapedsimple
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had soapedperfect
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was soapingprogressive
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were soapingprogressive
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had been soapingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
Kasey, who is not an actor, dreams of appearing on “Neighbours,” a canceled Australian soap opera.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
I listened to that thing over and over again, until I spilled a bottle of soap in my tape deck and ruined it.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
He served 78 days for shoplifting soap detergent, and had initially been given a suspended 32-week sentence but had breached it.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Tune into a smartphone soap opera: Are we entering a new phase of television?
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
“I’m going to make Gelifen take a bath. You can help. He tries to eat the soap, and then he farts bubbles for days afterward.”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
In social-media posts sponsored by Dove, people are layering its fragrant body washes, bar soaps and scrubs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
In those studies, the researchers developed approaches for converting other types of plastic waste into surfactants used in products such as soaps and detergents.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026
Panettiere was also known for her work on soaps “One Life to Live” and “Guiding Light” and films “Remember the Titans,” “Bring It On: All or Nothing” and the “Scream” franchise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The executive aims to modernize the Columbus, Ohio-based retailer of fragrances, scented candles, body creams and decorative soaps through an expanded digital presence, refreshed product mix and more-creative marketing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Lola says, glued to the TV and eating popcorn like she’s watching one of her soaps.
From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio
“In the stables, the Queen’s horses were again at the ready, coats groomed, saddles and bridles soaped and stirrups polished,’’ Dimbleby wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2022
Rhoda soaped a washcloth and began to scrub beneath the folds of her daughter’s skin.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2015
Actually, according to the Post, he “took some large metal pans that did not appear to be dirty, soaped them up and rinsed them…as the cameras clicked and the TV cameras rolled.”
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2012
The tune "Sticky Situation," for instance, mushrooms into the spectacle of a half-dozen boys getting their mouths soaped by moms.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 10, 2010
Then they ran me through a kind of human car wash—a series of machines that soaped, scrubbed, disinfected, rinsed, dried, and deloused me.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Set up an assembly line from soaping and scrubbing to rinsing to drying.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
Doing it while a shower is running and then soaping up, thus creating a steamy-sudsy environment, would be even better for masking the odors your body produces.
From Slate ● May 25, 2020
He enumerates some pleasures of life on the outside — sleeping on comfortable sheets, soaping up a loofah sponge in the shower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2020
Before eight in the evening, I was already in the shower cubicle attached to my room, soaping myself thoroughly, having thrown all my clothes in the laundry bag.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 7, 2019
I thought of the gang dumping ashcans on Third Avenue and soaping up the windows.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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