pent-up

[ pent-uhp ]
See synonyms for pent-up on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. not vented or expressed; held inside; restrained; curbed: pent-up emotions;pent-up rage.

Origin of pent-up

1
First recorded in 1705–15; adjective use of verb phrase pent up

Other words for pent-up

Words Nearby pent-up

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pent-up in a sentence

  • Perhaps the words let loose the emotion, though of different kinds, pent up behind their silence.

    The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
  • It was when one of the table-legs overturned the swill-pail that the long pent-up storm burst in a torrent of invective.

  • Instead, therefore, of receiving her former lover with dangerous pent-up fires, Lilian now feels pity for him.

  • At last his pent-up affections gave way, and he sought his chamber and wept there in secret.

  • Another moment and he was in her arms, silent, speechless, with long arrears of pent-up emotion.

    Eric, or Little by Little | Frederic W. Farrar

British Dictionary definitions for pent-up

pent-up

adjective(pent up when postpositive)
  1. not released; repressed: pent-up emotions

  2. kept unwillingly: I've been pent up in this office for over a year

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012