Definition

Verb: - To bottle up one's anger; to swallow one's anger: To consciously suppress or hold back feelings of anger, resentment, or indignation instead of expressing them. This action is often taken to avoid conflict, maintain harmony, or due to a lack of power in a situation.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Dù bị xúc phạm, cô ấy vẫn nuốt giận và im lặng. (Even though she was insulted, she still swallowed her anger and remained silent.)
  • Để giữ hòa khí trong gia đình, anh ấy thường xuyên phải nuốt giận. (To keep peace in the family, he often has to bottle up his anger.)
  • Nuốt giận lâu ngày có thể gây hại cho sức khỏe. (Bottling up anger for a long time can be harmful to your health.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase "nuốt giận nuốt hờn" is an intensified variant, combining "giận" (anger) and "hờn" (resentment, grudge) to emphasize the suppression of deep, lingering negative emotions.
  • Suốt bao năm, bà ấy nuốt giận nuốt hờn để nuôi con khôn lớn. (For many years, she swallowed all her anger and resentment to raise her children.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nén giận (v): to suppress anger. A close synonym with a similar meaning.
  • Anh ấy nén giận không nói gì. (He suppressed his anger and said nothing.)

Synonyms

• To swallow one's pride: Often used in a broader sense of accepting humiliation, but can overlap when pride is hurt.
• To bite one's tongue: To stop oneself from saying something that might cause trouble, often due to anger.
• To choke back one's anger: To force oneself not to show or express anger.

Related Idioms

• "Nuốt cay nuốt đắng": To swallow the bitter and the acrid. This idiom describes enduring hardship, humiliation, or bitter experiences without complaint, and is closely related to the emotional repression in "nuốt giận."
  • Vì con cái, bà ấy đã nuốt cay nuốt đắng cả đời. (For her children, she has swallowed bitterness her whole life.)

verb

1. to bottle up one's anger