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

But Seattle then bounced back when Kenneth Walker was bottled up in the backfield before running for 30 yards down the sideline to the New England 46. —February 9, CBS News, 9 Feb. 2026

New England found a way to bottle up Smith-Njigba, Seattle’s top receiver, and made Darnold look frazzled at times, too. —Tim Rohan, NBC news, 9 Feb. 2026

Cosmetics, bottling up exactly what makes the makeup brand’s Power Grip Primer, Halo Glow Liquid Filter, and Camo Collection special by turning those elusive qualities into a trio of eau de parfums. —Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 30 Jan. 2026

For Russia, Iran helps bottle up Central Asia geographically, its trade and pipelines etc, thereby leaving a vast landmass dependent on Moscow’s stranglehold. —Melik Kaylan, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for bottle up

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