soapbox

plural soapboxes · alternative soap box · alternative soap-box

1. literallyA crate for packing soap.
2. A small platform, being or resembling a literal soapbox, on which a person stands in order to give an impromptu speech or espouse their views.

   The madman obtained a soapbox which he stood on at the corner of Broadway and Wall street, to shout out his prophecy of the end of the world.

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   The one image which the word “Socialist” brought to Jurgis was of poor little Tamoszius Kuszleika, who had called himself one, and would go out with a couple of other men and a soap-box, and shout himself hoarse on a street corner Saturday nights.

   1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter XXV, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC

3. figurativelyoftenpejorativeA platform or outlet, such as a media platform, that a person uses to express their opinions.

   The politician used Twitter as his soapbox.

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   Please stop using council meetings as your own personal soapbox.

   Bernhard's last appearance on a late-night talk show was a handy soapbox to expound on his political message of patriotism, nationalism, and populism.

   2013, Robert F. Ely, Candidate for President, →ISBN, page 25

4. derogatoryespeciallyA figurative means of talking repeatedly or at length about one's opinions on one's pet topic.

   He's been on his soapbox all day about the new football coach.

   1. broadlyderogatoryespeciallyThe topic itself.

      His soapbox is the lack of public toilets in the city.

5. A soapbox car.

present singular third person soapboxes · participle present soapboxing · participle past soapboxed · past soapboxed · alternative soap box · alternative soap-box

1. To give a speech from (or as if from) a soapbox.

   […] and various members soapboxed in Hyde Park on Sunday.

   2015, Marc Matera, Black London: The Imperial Metropolis and Decolonization in the Twentieth Century, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 80

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   He soapboxed for whales and pressed us to write petitions and demonstrate with him—he as the leader, we as followers.

   2011, Phil Wolfson, Noe: A Father-Son Song of Love, Life, Illness, and Death, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN