bottle out
UK informal— phrasal verb with bottle uk/ˈbɒt.əl/us/ˈbɑː.t̬əl/verb [ T ]
to suddenly decide not to do something that you had intended to do because you feel frightened and lose your confidence:
I was going to enter a belly-dancing contest, but I bottled out at the last minute.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Avoiding action
- avoid
- avoid sth like the plague idiom
- avoidance
- bottle
- chicken
- flinch from sth/doing sth
- fudge
- get out of sth
- get round sth
- get-out clause
- insure
- shrink
- sit on your arse idiom
- skip out on sb/sth
- stand around
- stand by
- stand round
- steer
- welch
- welsh
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Cowardly
Afraid