choke sth back
— phrasal verb with choke uk/tʃəʊk/us/tʃoʊk/verb
If you choke back feelings or tears, you force yourself not to show how angry or upset you are:
Choking back my anger, I tried to speak calmly.
"John has had an accident," she said, choking back the tears.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Controlling emotions
- bottle
- bottle sth up
- brave
- breaking point
- choke
- collected
- compose
- composure
- cork
- frustrated
- give voice to sth idiom
- gulp sth back
- harden
- harden your heart idiom
- repress
- repressed
- self-possession
- steadily
- swallow
- temper
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