The AI-powered English dictionary
plural soapboxes
(literally) A crate for packing soap. examples
(figuratively) Any physical or media platform which gives prominence to the person on it and the views they espouse. quotations examples
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, Upton Sinclair, chapter XXV, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906
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, page 25
(figuratively) A talk about one's pet topic (or the topic itself), especially when only tangentially relevant to an ongoing discussion. examples
A soapbox car. examples
third-person singular simple present soapboxes, present participle soapboxing, simple past and past participle soapboxed
To give a speech from (or as if from) a soapbox. quotations examples
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
[…] 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, page 80