bubble over

verb

To be very enthusiastic, or highly excited.

“She was bubbling over with laughter as she ran into the room.”

Meanings

verbbubble over (third-person singular simple present bubbles over, present participle bubbling over, simple past and past participle bubbled over)

present singular third person bubbles over · participle present bubbling over · participle past bubbled over · past bubbled over

  1. idiomaticintransitiveTo be very enthusiastic, or highly excited.

    She was bubbling over with laughter as she ran into the room.

    1 more example

    They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.

    1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9

Synonyms & antonyms

verboverflow with a certain feeling

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

bubble over. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubble%20over

MLA

“bubble over.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubble%20over. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bubble over,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bubble%20over.

Source: bubble over on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.