bottle up

phrasal verb

bottled up; bottling up; bottles up

: to keep (a feeling or emotion) inside instead of expressing it : to hide (a feeling or emotion)

She's kept her feelings about the accident bottled up for too long.

I know he's angry, but he bottles it up inside instead of talking to someone about it.

Examples of bottle up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That was all well and good because the defense bottled up Robinson (40 rushing yards) and the Falcons. —Michael Nowels, Mercury News, 20 Oct. 2025

Writing down her story — rather than keeping her feelings bottled up — also helped. —Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2025

Notre Dame had two primary goals in bottling up USC’s offense, which led the nation in yards per play and ranked third in scoring entering the day. —The Athletic College Football Staff, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025

Kansas City bottled up Jeanty on his first carry of the series, then an offensive offsides erased an 8-yard run. —Kansas City Star, 19 Oct. 2025

Rhymes for bottle up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup