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

And this summer, R&B legend Charlie Wilson is bottling up that very magic and taking it on the road. —Shelby Stewart, Essence, 16 Apr. 2025

In Florida, the tiny town of Micanopy (pronounced Mi-kuh-no-pee) has bottled up the nostalgia of these classic institutions and built a community around the feeling. —Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 15 Apr. 2025

That’s what the latest Tom Ford perfume bottles up with its rose-on-rose co-distillation. —Celia Shatzman, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025

Notre Dame finished fifth nationally in yards per carry (5.66) despite getting bottled up during the College Football Playoff outside of Love’s 98-yard touchdown run against Indiana. —Pete Sampson, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025

Rhymes for bottle up

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