choke back

phrasal verb

choked back; choking back; chokes back

: to have difficulty not showing or expressing (tears, rage, anger, etc.)

He was choking back tears as he talked about his late wife.

She struggled to choke back her anger as she listened to their criticisms.

Examples of choke back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Chu became visibly emotional before introducing his leading ladies, choking back tears as Platt touched him on the shoulder. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 11 Apr. 2024

Myers choked back tears as his daughters spoke on the public address system. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2024

Then, the father-of-three choked back tears and searched for his family, including Kylie and dad Ed Kelce in the stands. —Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 6 Mar. 2024

Jurors choked back tears and stifled gasps as Deputy Dist. —Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2024

The American dream In August 2022, Ms. Zhang took the witness stand, choking back sobs as Ms. Chen read a statement in English on her behalf. —Amy Qin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2024

Then, Kelce choked back tears and searched for his family, including his wife, Kylie Kelce, and father, Ed Kelce, in the stands. —Sabrina Weiss, Peoplemag, 17 Jan. 2024

Then, the father-of-three choked back tears and searched for his family, including his wife, Kylie Kelce, and father, Ed Kelce, in the stands. —Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 17 Jan. 2024

At one point, Ko choked back tears over allegations about a piece of land his father had bought for him. —Jeong Park, Los Angeles Times, 7 Jan. 2024