Pent-up Definition & Meaning

American

British

Usage

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms pent-up American [pent-uhp] / ˈpɛntˈʌp /

adjective

1. not vented or expressed; held inside; restrained; curbed.

   pent-up emotions;

   pent-up rage.

   Synonyms: suppressed, repressed, confined

pent-up British

adjective

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

Usage

What does pent-up mean? Pent-up is used to describe something that is repressed or not expressed, such as feelings, as in Tina had a lot of pent-up anger over her parents’ divorce that she did not know how to express.Pent-up also describes something that has not been vented, like a gas, which causes pressure to build, as in Tremors release pent-up energy beneath the earth’s crust.Example: All this pent-up anger is bad for your mental health.

Etymology

Origin of pent-up

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"A lot of pent-up emotion came out on the 18th green. A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it," said McIlroy.

From BBC

“We all thought that when the strikes ended, there would be all this pent-up demand for Hollywood production,” said John Kim, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets.

From The Wall Street Journal

Home Depot said it expects those metrics to grow at a faster clip if the housing market gains momentum and there is increased spend on larger projects, driven by pent-up demand.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Our Market Recovery Case reflects our performance expectations once we see momentum in housing activity and increased spend on larger projects driven by pent-up demand,” Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail said.

From Barron's

Still, there appears to be pent-up demand for IPOs going into 2026, with several big companies already prepared to list their stocks or rumored to be getting ready to file for IPOs.

From Barron's

Related Words

• repressed
• stifled
• suppressed

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.