bathtub

bathtub — noun

1. a large container fixed in a bathroom and used for soaking and washing your body

1.nounB1
Definition

a large container fixed in a bathroom and used for soaking and washing your body in water

Example

Emma filled the bathtub with warm water before her evening bath.

fill the bathtub with water

After soccer practice, Leo soaked in the bathtub for twenty minutes.

soak in the bathtub

Common collocations
  • fill the bathtub
  • empty the bathtub
  • bathtub full of water
  • step into the bathtub
  • soak in the bathtub
Synonyms
  • tub

    a shorter, less exact word that can also mean other large containers

  • bath

    especially British; can mean either the tub or the act of washing

Grammar Patterns

fill the bathtub

get into the bathtub

soak in the bathtub

Usage Note

Often used with fill, clean, scrub, get into, and soak in. In everyday use it usually means the fixed bathroom fixture, not a portable washing tub.

Common Mistakes

The baby is sitting in the bathroom with toy ducks.
The baby is sitting in the bathtub with toy ducks.
bathroom means the whole room; bathtub means the part you wash in.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Bathtub is the clearest everyday word for the fixed container in a bathroom where you wash your body. Bath can mean the same thing in British English, but it also often means the act of washing or the water itself, so it is less exact. Tub is shorter and more informal, and it can refer to many other large containers, not only one for washing. Hot tub is different again: it usually means a larger tub for relaxing in hot water, often outdoors, not an ordinary bathroom fixture. You can take a bath in a bathtub, sit in the tub for a minute, or relax in a hot tub at a hotel.

bathtub ↗bath ↗tub ↗hot tub

Common collocations

Nouns

  • bathtub drain
  • bathtub faucet
  • bathtub toy

Phrases

  • fill the bathtub
  • get into the bathtub
  • soak in the bathtub

Prepositions

  • in the bathtub
  • out of the bathtub

Etymology

Old EnglishLow GermanDutchEnglish

Bathtub is a compound made in English from bath and tub. Bath comes from Old English words about washing in water, while tub came into English from a Low German or Dutch word for a large container.