soapy
Americanadjective
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containing or impregnated with soap.
soapy water.
-
covered with soap or lather.
soapy dishes.
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of the nature of soap; resembling soap.
a soft, soapy fiber.
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pertaining to or characteristic of soap.
a clean, soapy smell.
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Informal. characteristic or reminiscent of a soap opera; melodramatic; corny.
a soapy plot.
adjective
-
containing or covered with soap
soapy water
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resembling or characteristic of soap
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slang flattering or persuasive
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of soapy
Explanation
Things that have soap in (or on) them are soapy, and things that resemble soap because they're frothy or foamy are also soapy. Your cat won't be happy if you pet him with your soapy hands, and you won't be happy if your hot chocolate tastes vaguely soapy. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "overly flattering and fake." The soapy compliment you give your teacher will be just as distasteful to your classmates as that soapy hot chocolate was to you.
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:
Talc is a natural mineral made of magnesium, silicon, oxygen and hydrogen, known for its soapy feel and is often used in baby powder.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
First, a soapy sponge—nothing fancy, just one of the cheap ones, sudsed up with a dish soap that smells good.
From Salon ● May 5, 2026
These stories may sound like soapy twists in a Taylor Sheridan drama or cable TV movie, but they actually come straight from one of the bestselling books of all time — the Bible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
The arrival of the soapy “Scream 7” is a rare example of a 1990s cultural artifact that has survived, though its pulse is weakening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
The maid stood up and wiped her soapy hands on her apron.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
At the same time "The Vow" doesn't completely eschew the soapier aspects of this case.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2020
It’s a little soapier, and faster, than some of your faves, but it scratches that same itch.
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2019
I hadn’t heard any of the songs which, people said, were wilier and more mischievous than the straighter, soapier, we’re-in-love-now ballads that defined Disney movies past.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2019
Add in the acrimonies and resentments among his adult children and you’ve basically got a “Dallas” in the making, but the series shuns some of its soapier tendencies for deadly serious authenticity.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 14, 2018
Frost leaned more heavily into the soapier and kookier elements of the series.
From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2017
As a result, X-Men became, as Howe put it, “the soapiest soap saga ever put forth by the House of Ideas, filled with agonized romances, self-confidence crises, lectures on morality, psychic scars, and worrying.”
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2019
Jane the Virgin is a telenovela that, along with the soapiest of plot shenanigans, has taken on joy, loss, immigration, and breast-feeding.
From Slate ● Jul. 5, 2018
Yet despite all that, a hostile takeover attempt, and Lucious’s getting sent to jail in the final moments, the soapiest moment was both a throwback and a nod to present-day.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2015
Even the soapiest element of the pilot—Rayna and Juliette's "feud"—is very understated.
From Slate ● Apr. 11, 2013
That, to be sure, was nothing spectacular for the script of All My Children, one of television's soapiest midday dramas.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
