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
Nellie keeping things bottled up was a powder keg waiting to blow.
—
Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 20 Jan. 2026
Colder weather should call for more James Cook, the league’s leading rusher who got bottled up last weekend.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
But the Celtics couldn’t bottle up Wembanyama forever.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 11 Jan. 2026
On Thursday, that was all bottled up into one sequence.
—Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bottle up
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Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 20 Jan. 2026
Colder weather should call for more James Cook, the league’s leading rusher who got bottled up last weekend.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
But the Celtics couldn’t bottle up Wembanyama forever.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 11 Jan. 2026
On Thursday, that was all bottled up into one sequence.
—Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bottle up
Cite this Entry
“Bottle up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bottle%20up. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
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