choke up

phrasal verb

choked up; choking up; chokes up

1

: to have trouble talking because of crying or strong emotion

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

2

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

The actor got choked up, nearly crying, within the first two minutes of a cast panel on Sunday night following the episode. —Emily Longeretta, Variety, 7 Apr. 2025

The emotions were unavoidable on Saturday for Ian Happ, who got a standing ovation for his 1,000th game as a Cub, as well as Matthew Boyd, who got choked up after winning his first start at Wrigley Field in a Cubs uniform, thinking of his late grandfather, a Cubs fan who grew up in Chicago. —Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025

While trying to summarize the moment, Jeff got choked up. —Brian Anthony Hernandez, People.com, 27 Mar. 2025

Kevin Durant and Mike Budenholzer spoke positively about him during a post-game interview, and one of the assistant coaches was almost choking up when talking about Bol mid-game, saying that Bol’s hard work has paid off. —Stan Son, The Athletic, 5 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for choke up

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