bound up in
Idioms-
Also, bound up with. Deeply or inextricably involved in. For example, Obviously the candidate was bound up with the negotiations on the party platform, or She is bound up in her church activities. This usage appears in the Bible (Genesis 44:30): “His life is bound up in the lad's life.” [Late 1500s]
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.
"It may be that in normal conditions phosphorus is bound up in another molecule such as phosphorus trioxide," explained Beiler.
From Science Daily • Nov. 9, 2025
Halloween, for all its associations with extremes of terror, is also bound up in the cozy innocence of childhood memories, and to my mind, few movies fit that duality better than “The Fog.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025
The 19th century gets bound up in the idea of progress, and increasingly that comes to mean technological progress.
From Slate • Sep. 8, 2025
The power of Stone’s music is bound up in his private pain.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2025
“We didn’t speak at Jesse’s funeral—I was too bound up in my own grief to be concerned with yours. I hope you can forgive me.”
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
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.