choke up

phrasal verb

choked up; choking up; chokes up

: to have trouble talking because of crying or strong emotion

He chokes up whenever he tries to talk about the accident.

baseball : to move one's hands to a higher position on a baseball bat

—often + on

He choked up on the bat and took a short swing.

Examples of choke up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Calling it the best and worst day of his life, Combs choked up, took a beat, and wiped tears from his eyes. —

Journal Sentinel, 13 Apr. 2024 Head coach Frank Reich choked up a bit while addressing his team postgame. —

Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 9 Apr. 2024 Homan is known to choke up in public when speaking about victims of human traffickers or drug smugglers that he's come across. —

Mike Levine, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2024 While recounting his upbringing, Johnson choked up twice. —

David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2024 And history for Gottlieb, winning her first-ever Pac-12 tournament in the final year of its current iteration, choking up postgame when describing its significance. —

Luca Evans, Orange County Register, 11 Mar. 2024 Looking at the photo now, Evan’s father, Wayland Strickland, choked up. —

Laura Strickler, NBC News, 23 Feb. 2024 After the playful banter, Jason choked up while congratulating his younger brother for beating the Ravens, 17-10, and for being Super Bowl-bound for a second-consecutive year. —

Julia Moore, Peoplemag, 29 Jan. 2024 She gets choked up thinking about a family who asked for a bedsheet to hang up for some privacy in an overcrowded apartment. —

Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 12 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'choke up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.