bubble
/ˈbʌbəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.16 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
noun
A period of intense speculation in a market, causing prices to rise quickly to irrational levels as the metaphorical bubble expands, and then fall even more quickly as the bubble bursts.
noun
The emotional or physical atmosphere in which a subject is immersed; especially, a homogeneous atmosphere in which subjects are spared exposure to culture or ideas different from their own.
Example Sentences
- "bubbles in window glass, or in a lens"
- "Then a soldier […] / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouth"
- "real estate bubble"
- "dot-com bubble"
- "Thanks to the proliferation of semiconductor chips and cell phones—the number of U.S. cell phones grew from essentially zero in 1983 to nearly two hundred million by the end of 2004, and as of 2003 over one billion cell phones were in use worldwide, so by the time the high-tech bubble approached its bursting point in 2000 and 2001, coltan had become an extremely hot commodity."
- "The yawning gap between data-center expenditures and the rest of the economy has caused whispers of bubble to rise to a chorus. […] Rapid construction of canals, railroads, and the fiber-optic cables laid during the dot-com bubble all created frenzies of hype, investment, and financial speculation that crashed markets."
Etymology
Partly imitative, also influenced by burble. Compare Middle Dutch bobbe (“bubble”) > Dutch bubbel (“bubble”), Low German bubbel (“bubble”), Danish boble (“bubble”), Swedish bubbla (“bubble”). The word was first used in its economic sense in association with the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, based on the metaphor of an inflated soap bubble bursting.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbʌbəl/
- British English: /ˈbʌbəl/