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

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

In that interview, Chenoweth also got choked up discussing the casting and her longtime relationship with Grande. —

Lauren Huff, EW.com, 1 Nov. 2024 At one point, Knowles stood up in front of the gathering and made an emotional speech about motherhood, getting choked up as Bey wiped away tears in the audience. —

Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2024 Bates was shocked, putting her hands over her mouth and getting choked up. —

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY, 8 Oct. 2024 So were Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart, throwing out the first pitch, and Dallas Braden, now a color commentator, choking up in the booth. —

Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for choke up