choke up

phrasal verb

choked up; choking up; chokes up

: to have trouble talking because of crying or strong emotion

He chokes up whenever he tries to talk about the accident.

baseball : to move one's hands to a higher position on a baseball bat

—often + on

He choked up on the bat and took a short swing.

Examples of choke up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Similarly, a hammer drill delivers the same thrusts but is designed for drilling through tough materials that could choke up a normal cordless drill. —

Matt Jancer, WIRED, 25 Apr. 2024 Looking back on that night, Emily can’t help but still get a little choked up. —

Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2024 Another said he got choked up over the film’s scenes depicting Oppenheimer’s inner turmoil. —

Yuri Kageyama, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Mar. 2024 Calling it the best and worst day of his life, Combs choked up, took a beat, and wiped tears from his eyes. —

Journal Sentinel, 13 Apr. 2024 Head coach Frank Reich choked up a bit while addressing his team postgame. —

Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 9 Apr. 2024 Homan is known to choke up in public when speaking about victims of human traffickers or drug smugglers that he's come across. —

Mike Levine, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2024 While recounting his upbringing, Johnson choked up twice. —

David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2024 And history for Gottlieb, winning her first-ever Pac-12 tournament in the final year of its current iteration, choking up postgame when describing its significance. —

Luca Evans, Orange County Register, 11 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'choke up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.