bottle up

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

To the duo, Rumspringa bottles up an in-the-moment tension. — Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 15 June 2026

Staying bottled up was impossible, but there was a middle ground. — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 26 May 2026

In the first stint of the race, Russell and Norris were both bottled up behind slower cars but couldn’t find a way past them on the narrow streets. — Sahil Kapur, NBC news, 7 June 2026

But Boyer remained faithful to her husband, initially bottling up those exciting feelings. — Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 30 June 2026

Rhymes for bottle up

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