so much [verb] as [verb]

This is from a book that I'm reading. The whole quote is:

The bubble doesn't so much burst as evaporate, leaving us back in the real world.

I looked "so much as" up in the dictionary, it only gives something like "even" as meaning. I didn't see any usage example that looks like this one. What does it mean here? Thank you.

Solution 1:

The bubble doesn't so much burst as evaporate means that the bubble didn't burst (with any sound) it just quietly disappears.
so much [verb 1 ] as [verb 2] in general means that the action is more like [verb 2] than [verb 1].

so much as without the verbs has a different meaning, and even can be a definition in this case. Collins English Dictionary has this definition and example

Solution 2:

It's interesting to use "so much as" on the middle of an idiom, in this case "to burst (one's) bubble" which means to disappoint by bringing back to reality (as in, "I'm sorry to burst your bubble but the train is always late.") The author is playing on that phrase by perhaps implying that their bubble was not suddenly burst, or not burst by external forces, but rather it just evaporated, meaning that the person was brought back to reality slowly, or on their own terms.