soapy
/ˈsəʊpi
/adjective (soapier, soapiest)
1Containing or covered with soap: hot soapy water...
- The other side was covered in soapy sponge which he proceeded to jab into my left eye without warning.
- Remove interior fan covers, and wash in mild soapy water.
- His hair was chaotically bedraggled, obviously soaked as well as sporadically covered with soapy foam.
1.1Of or like soap: his hands smelled soapy...
- More often than not, the soapy agent holds soil in suspension as it becomes loose during the wash cycle, and is subsequently flushed away during the rinse cycle and centrifugal spin.
- The unpleasant salty or soapy taste may be masked in flavored or alcoholic beverages.
- It's soapy, slippery, and no good for hair and leaves the bottoms of your feet much too slick to make it advisable for bathtime.
2 informal Characteristic of a soap opera: the script is sentimental and a little soapy...
- He may know how to pen witty banter and put hip twists on soapy situations, but he'd better give his characters some depth.
- Fans of Douglas Sirk melodramas and other '50s potboilers are the best candidates for this kind of slick, earnestly soapy entertainment.
3(Of a person or their behaviour) unpleasantly flattering and ingratiating: a soapy, worshipful look...
- He trod a pretty thin line, of course, because there's always a danger that such well-meaning words can end up sounding like soapy sentimentality, but he managed to keep himself on the right side.
noun (soapie) informal, chiefly Australian & South African
A soap opera: the iconic Northern English soapie, Coronation Street
Derivatives
soapily
- Susan ran back to Ian, but her insincerity to Ian, and to herself, was soapily palpable.
- For the most part, however, the movie is awkwardly structured and soapily slow-moving.
- For their TV audience, such routine is soapily addictive.
soapiness
- But, I would say it does remind a lot of Six Feet Under, in the structure (a client is usually the catalyst for at least part of the plot), and the underlying soapiness of the show.
- The soapiness is clearly cause for heightened constitutional scrutiny.
- Their reflection on the surface of a lake spattered with flecks of toothpaste - moving rapidly apart because the soapiness has lowered the surface tension of the water - becomes a liberating extraterrestrial voyage.