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

Republicans control a 13-11 majority on the Senate Banking Committee, which means that any one Republican senator could bottle up a nominee in committee by voting with the Democrats against the pick. —Alexander Bolton, The Hill, 27 Aug. 2025

Her initiator, Sabrina Ionescu, was bottled up to 5-for-16 shooting and had more turnovers (3) than assists (2). —Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025

Although the Dolphins bottled up the run, key catches from receivers Isaac TeSlaa and Jackson Meeks, the latter of whom hauled in the 11-yard touchdown, allowed the Lions to tie up the game. —Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2025

This body mist bottles up those adolescent vibes with notes of cotton candy, vanilla, and coconut milk, and lasts longest when sprayed on pulse points. —Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 15 July 2025

Rhymes for bottle up

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