soapy

American  

[soh-pee] / ˈsoʊ pi /

adjective

soapier, soapiest

1. containing or impregnated with soap.

   soapy water.

2. covered with soap or lather.

   soapy dishes.

3. of the nature of soap; resembling soap.

   a soft, soapy fiber.

4. pertaining to or characteristic of soap.

   a clean, soapy smell.

5. Informal. characteristic or reminiscent of a soap opera; melodramatic; corny.

   a soapy plot.

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soapy British  

/ ˈsəʊpɪ /

adjective

1. containing or covered with soap

   soapy water

2. resembling or characteristic of soap

3. slang flattering or persuasive

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noun

1. a variant of soapie

Other Word Forms

• soapiness
  noun
• soapily
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of soapy

First recorded in 1600–10; soap + -y ¹

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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

See Examples For:

soapy soapier soapiest

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

Instead, she unwisely took a soapy dishcloth to your table, which probably made the stain worse.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

JR: The expansion definitely took a bottle of 18-year-old Scotch and poured soapy water in it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

It brought the bootstrapping fantasy of this rising family, a few generations removed from the toiling class, into Britain’s living rooms with the right blend of serious theatricality and soapy splendor.

From Salon ● Mar. 28, 2026

She pushed him into the soapy water and suddenly remembered the alethiometer in her coat pocket.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

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

For black professional women like Mary Jane, however, those other considerations make that quest an ever-more challenging undertaking, a truth the series excels at examining even as it traffics in soapier elements.

From Salon ● Apr. 23, 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

“The Night Of …” was written by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian, though, and Mr. Moffat’s own work, including “Criminal Justice” and the legal drama “Silk,” is slicker and soapier.

From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2017

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

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