Meaning & use
sudsy
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Covered with or full of soap bubbles.
Grammar: Gradable, so you can say 'sudsier' or 'the sudsiest', though 'very sudsy' is more common.
Patterns
- sudsy water
- a sudsy sponge
- get sudsy
Wash the car with warm, sudsy water and a soft cloth.
Her hands were still sudsy when the phone rang.
Add more soap until the water looks nice and sudsy.
adjectivecomparableinformal
Full of small bubbles, like foam on a drink.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after linking verbs such as be, look, get.
Patterns
- a sudsy drink
- look sudsy
He poured a cold, sudsy glass of root beer.
The bath was so sudsy that the bubbles spilled onto the floor.
Word forms
| comparative | sudsier |
|---|---|
| superlative | sudsiest |
Common combinations
- sudsy water
- Soak the shirt in sudsy water for ten minutes.
- nice and sudsy
- Keep scrubbing until the sponge is nice and sudsy.
- a sudsy mess
- The broken dishwasher left a sudsy mess all over the kitchen floor.
- get sudsy
- The soap will get sudsy faster if you use warm water.
Synonyms and how they differ
- foamy
- Foamy is the better choice for bubbles on drinks or waves; sudsy usually suggests soap.
- lathery
- Lathery means full of thick soap foam, especially on skin or hair; sudsy is broader and more casual.
- bubbly
- Bubbly can describe any drink with bubbles, including fizzy ones, while sudsy suggests foam rather than fizz.
Opposites
Word family
- suds noun
- The mass of small bubbles that soap makes in water.
- sudsiness noun
- The quality of being full of soap bubbles.
Commonly confused: sudsy or fizzy?
sudsy vs fizzy
Fizzy describes a drink with gas bubbles you can hear and taste, like soda; sudsy describes visible foam, usually from soap.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'sudsy' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Sudsy' describes something covered in soap foam, so a sponge in the sink fits. 'Too sudsy' for champagne is odd because we say 'too fizzy' for drinks; wind and letters have nothing to do with soap bubbles.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sudsy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.