Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to bubble over with excitement

to bubble over with excitement

3.5
Show so much excitement that you cannot hide it
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : desbordar de emoción
  • He couldn't help but bubble over with excitement when he got the job offer.

Examples

  • Tabitha bubbled over with excitement.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The children bubbled over with excitement when they saw the fireworks.

  • She bubbled over with excitement as she opened her birthday presents.

Synonyms

to rave
vsto bubble over with excitement
68 4.6

Speak about something in a very excited, positive way

is a visible overflow of excitement rather than mainly enthusiastic praise
to swell
vsto bubble over with excitement
29 4.2

To feel a strong emotion, like pride or anger, growing inside

is outward and uncontrollable showing of excitement rather than an internal rise
to burst out
vsto bubble over with excitement
9 3.3

Suddenly say something or make a loud sound

is a sustained visible overflow of excitement rather than a quick outburst
to enthuse
vsto bubble over with excitement
4 6.5

To talk about something in an excited way

is more about openly overflowing excitement rather than just speaking eagerly
to flip out
vsto bubble over with excitement
  • Informal
4 7.3

To become very excited or surprised

is a steady, hard-to-contain display of excitement rather than a brief reaction
to bubble over
vsto bubble over with excitement
2 4.7

To be so full of strong feeling or excitement that you show it clearly

is identical in meaning but adds explicit mention of excitement
burbling
vsto bubble over with excitement
7.4

A lively, excited way of speaking or laughing that sounds like soft bubbles

is the outward uncontrollable excitement itself rather than only speech

Antonyms

to hide
∞ 1.0

To keep something so others cannot see or understand it

to restrain
72 4.6

Keep strong feelings under control so you do not act on them

How Excited

to bubble over with excitement
3.5

Surface Forms

bubble over with excitement infinitive
bubbled over with excitement past
bubbled over with excitement past participle
bubbling over with excitement present participle
bubbles over with excitement third person singular

Morphology

bubble + over + with + excitement

The sense of emotions 'overflowing' is directly signalled by 'bubble' (a rising/overflowing motion) combined with 'over' and the phrase 'with excitement' specifying the emotion, so the overall meaning can be straightforwardly inferred from the parts. This metaphor of emotions 'bubbling/overflowing' is common cross-linguistically, so an average B1 learner who knows the constituent words would very likely understand the MWE.

Etymology

Bubble over with excitement comes from the picture of a pot that starts to bubble and spill over when it boils because it has too much heat. So it means 'to show so much excitement that you cannot keep it inside'.