Tubular

//ˈtjuːbjʊlə// adj, slang

adj, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Shaped like a tube.

    "tubular bell"

  2. 2
    Relating to, or composed of, tubes or tubules.
  3. 3
    Cool, awesome. US, dated, slang

    "It was such a tubular party, Journal! But a few minutes later, I walked up to the Hermosa Beach Pier and left the girls with my things, thinking the totally bitchin' party would continue. But when I got back, they were all gone."

Adjective
  1. 1
    constituting a tube; having hollow tubes (as for the passage of fluids) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
a+a-plusacceptableawesomebadbully

Example

More examples

"This glistening little tulpa is a four-dimensional creature. The crown of his head is my biological mother squeezing me out, and the tips of his toes will be the death of me. We are about a quarter past his nipples at the moment. Tubular, man!"

Etymology

From Latin tubulus + -ar. By surface analysis, tubule + -ar. The sense meaning "cool" or "awesome" is believed to be a figurative extension originating in surfing lingo, from the way that an excellent wave encloses a surfer within tubular walls of water.

Related phrases

tubular bellstubular sponge hydroidtubular assaulttubular boilertubular breathingtubular bridgetubular girder

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.