Library / English Dictionary

BUBBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A dome-shaped covering made of transparent glass or plastic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bubble" is a kind of...):

covering (an artifact that covers something else (usually to protect or shelter or conceal it))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An impracticable and illusory idea

Example:

he didn't want to burst the newcomer's bubble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("bubble" is a kind of...):

fancy; fantasy; illusion; phantasy (something many people believe that is false)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A speculative scheme that depends on unstable factors that the planner cannot control

Example:

a real estate bubble

Synonyms:

bubble; house of cards

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("bubble" is a kind of...):

scheme; strategy (an elaborate and systematic plan of action)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("bubble" is a kind of...):

globule (a small globe or ball)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bubble"):

air bubble (a bubble of air)

foam; froth (a mass of small bubbles formed in or on a liquid)

soap bubble (a bubble formed by a thin soap film)

Derivation:

bubble (expel gas from the stomach)

bubble (form, produce, or emit bubbles)

bubble (flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise)

bubbly (emitting or filled with bubbles as from carbonation or fermentation)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expel gas from the stomach

Example:

Please don't burp at the table

Synonyms:

belch; bubble; burp; eruct

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "bubble" is one way to...):

breathe; emit; pass off (expel (gases or odors))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

bubble (a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form, produce, or emit bubbles

Example:

The soup was bubbling

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bubble" is one way to...):

breathe; emit; pass off (expel (gases or odors))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bubble"):

effervesce; fizz; foam; form bubbles; froth; sparkle (become bubbly or frothy or foaming)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Also:

bubble over (overflow with a certain feeling)

Derivation:

bubble (a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to form bubbles

Example:

bubble gas through a liquid

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "bubble" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

bubble (form, produce, or emit bubbles)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Rise in bubbles or as if in bubbles

Example:

bubble to the surface

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "bubble" is one way to...):

arise; come up; go up; lift; move up; rise; uprise (move upward)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise

Example:

babbling brooks

Synonyms:

babble; bubble; burble; guggle; gurgle; ripple

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "bubble" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Verb group:

gurgle (make sounds similar to gurgling water)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

bubble (a hollow globule of gas (e.g., air or carbon dioxide))

bubbler (a public fountain to provide a jet of drinking water)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They are a deep, strong, silent stream, and you are the scum, the bubbles, the poor, silly froth that floats upon the surface.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Simethicone, a mixture of polydimethylsiloxane and silica gel, reduces the surface tension of gas bubbles, promoting gas bubble coalescence and so intestinal gas transit and evacuation.

(Magnesium Hydroxide/Aluminum Hydroxide/Simethicone Suspension, NCI Thesaurus)

In addition, the product is sonicated while a gas is bubbled through the suspension, and this results in the formation of microspheres by the solid particles.

(Injectable Sonicated Suspension Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The creation of bubbles is driven by mechanical force.

(Cavitation, NCI Thesaurus)

A solution or suspension that produces dense bubbles when combined with water.

(Foam Bath Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

Bubbles found in ice cores are one example of fossil air that records the atmospheric composition of the atmosphere at the time the ice was formed.

(Fossil air, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

A suspension intended for injection and is sonicated while a gas is bubbled through the suspension resulting in the creation of microspheres by the solid particles.

(Injectable Sonicated Suspension Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers were able to determine the length of the black hole’s eruptions by studying cavities, or giant bubbles, in the multi-million degree gas in NGC 5813.

(Chandra Finds Evidence for Serial Black Hole Eruptions, NASA)

Quincey Morris is with him, and that is much of a help, for he himself is a bubbling well of good spirits.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Bah! And bah! again. The champagne is already flat. The sparkle and bubble has gone out and it is a tasteless drink.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)