soapbox
soapbox Lexical Profile
soapbox Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To deliver an informal, impassioned, or opinionated speech in public (often in an overly insistent or preachy manner).
"She spent twenty minutes soapboxing about the need for better public transit before the committee moved on."
• noun
A wooden box or crate originally used for packing and shipping soap.
"The children built a small downhill racing cart out of an old wooden soapbox and spare roller-skate wheels."
An improvised platform or forum used by a speaker to express strong, passionate, or self-important opinions in public.
"Whenever the topic of urban zoning comes up, he gets on his soapbox and lectures everyone in the room."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in 19th-century America from the wooden crates originally used to ship soap in bulk, which street corner speakers and political agitators frequently upturned to use as makeshift platforms for addressing crowds.