Meanings
plural goldfish bowls
- A transparent bowl in which pet fish are kept.
It seemed only a moment after Tom had decided that Sara must tell the truth that Alice came into the sitting-room to find the goldfish bowl broken in a thousand pieces and the gasping fish beating themselves on the floor.
1920, Mary Heaton Vorse, Growing UpSynonyms: fish bowl
- broadlyfigurativelyAny place that lacks privacy, especially a room with a large window facing a public area.
"Because East Midlands Railway's HQ is here in Derby, we're rather in a goldfish bowl... and now there's the announcement that Derby will be the Great British Railway headquarters, so the goldfish bowl is about to get a whole lot bigger," he says.
2023 November 1, Nick Brodrick talks to Jason Cocker, “A station that "oozes" customer service...”, in RAIL, number 995, page 50Synonyms: fish bowl
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA transparent bowl in which pet fish are kept.
nounAny place that lacks privacy, especially a room with a large window facing a public area.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna state of affairs in which you have no privacy
nouna transparent bowl in which small fish are kept
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish kalamalja
- kalamaljabowl in which fish are kept
German Goldfischglas
- Goldfischglasbowl in which fish are kept
Japanese 金魚鉢
- 金魚鉢 (kingyobachi)bowl in which fish are kept
Polish kuliste akwarium
- kuliste akwariumbowl in which fish are kept
Cite this entry
goldfish bowl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goldfish%20bowl
“goldfish bowl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goldfish%20bowl. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “goldfish bowl,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/goldfish%20bowl.
Source: goldfish bowl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.