well up

A1 Topic:Emotions & Feelings Phrasal verb

Base verb: well

Meanings

1
verb
to rise or gather until something begins to fill or overflow, especially tears in the eyes
Phrasal verb · Intransitive

well up / well up in something / well up from something

Usage: Liquid is the subject: tears well up in her eyes, water wells up from a spring. In and from introduce locations, not direct objects.

Tears began to well up as she read the farewell letter.
Sources and attribution

OpenAI Codex authors; independent AI editorial review recorded in the corpus review archive. — Original project editorial material; cleared for The Missing Workbook
- The Missing Workbook: original construction review
Tears began to well up as she read the farewell letter.
2
verb
to grow inside someone as a strong emotion until it becomes difficult to contain
Phrasal verb · Intransitive

an emotion wells up / an emotion wells up in/inside someone

Usage: The emotion is the subject: anger can well up inside her. The person experiencing it follows in or inside; there is no direct object.

A wave of grief began to well up inside him.
Sources and attribution

OpenAI Codex authors; independent AI editorial review recorded in the corpus review archive. — Original project editorial material; cleared for The Missing Workbook
- The Missing Workbook: original construction review
A wave of grief began to well up inside him.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Related forms well

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

External links

# well up

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** verb

## Meanings
1. to rise or gather until something begins to fill or overflow, especially tears in the eyes
2. to grow inside someone as a strong emotion until it becomes difficult to contain

## Usage Notes
- to rise or gather until something begins to fill or overflow, especially tears in the eyes: Liquid is the subject: tears well up in her eyes, water wells up from a spring. In and from introduce locations, not direct objects.
- to grow inside someone as a strong emotion until it becomes difficult to contain: The emotion is the subject: anger can well up inside her. The person experiencing it follows in or inside; there is no direct object.

## Examples
- Tears began to well up as she read the farewell letter.
- A wave of grief began to well up inside him.
- Tears began to well up as she read the farewell letter.
- A wave of grief began to well up inside him.

## Related Forms
- well

## Learning Sources
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors, with original notes and examples. Learning notes: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- [The Missing Workbook: original construction review](https://github.com/barisozmen/rails_english)

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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