South Sea Bubble

British  

noun

1. history the financial crash that occurred in 1720 after the South Sea Company had taken over the national debt in return for a monopoly of trade with the South Seas, causing feverish speculation in their stocks

---

Etymology

Origin of South Sea Bubble

so named because the rapid expansion and sudden collapse of investment resembled the blowing up and bursting of a bubble

Example Sentences

I was shocked and horrified to discover that I had just learned a lesson that was freely available all the way back to the South Sea Bubble.

From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025

Mackay’s chapters on the South Sea Bubble and the Mississippi Scheme alone are worth the price of admission.

From Washington Post • Apr. 19, 2019

Sarah became famous for avoiding the losses so many of her contemporaries incurred in the South Sea Bubble of 1720, when investors poured money into the South Sea Company.

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2019

In a new IMF working paper, Jihad Dagher examines the political-economy elements of ten financial crises, beginning with the South Sea Bubble in Britain, and finds they had much in common.

From Economist • Jan. 25, 2018

His wealth had been over-rated, as is perhaps the case with all notorious fortunes, and not well invested; at any rate, he had burned his fingers in the South Sea Bubble.

From Lord Chatham His Early Life and Connections by Rosebery, Archibald Phillip Primrose