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Glite Dictionary
🌊 To overflow 😊 To show emotion
to spill over

to spill over

3 5.3
To feel an emotion so strongly that you show it openly
  • phrasal verb
  • /spɪl ˈoʊvər/
translation icon : desbordarse
  • Her eagerness and inquiry spilled over to her classmates, prompting many detours to the library because they "just HAD to find out!"

And the disrespect started to spill over.

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Examples

  • Kristi felt tears of joy threaten to spill over during the emotional moment.

  • At that moment, tears welled up and spilled over, tracing glistening tracks down his mother's cheeks.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • His eyes burn, then well with tears, then spill over.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • So, is it any wonder that the love of Christmas spilled over into my adult life?

    Blog text (19)

  • My eyes filled with tears and spilled over.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Sometimes that anger spills over, and they talk about it.

    Blog text (25)

  • Some time ago, a client walked into the office, spilling over with excitement.

    Academic text (2009)

  • If you know anything about Mingus, you know that his personality spilled over into the music in a very strong way.

  • Instead, he starts to cry, little tears welling up along his eyelids and then spilling over onto his cheeks.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • His frustration with the situation eventually spilled over into a loud argument.

Synonyms

to overflow
vsto spill over
30 4.1

To be so full of a feeling or idea that people notice

means the feeling breaks out and cannot be held in
to well over
vsto spill over
22 4.4

To rise and flow out like tears or strong feelings

refers only to emotion becoming too strong and openly displayed
to boil over
vsto spill over
  • Informal
7 4.8

To suddenly lose control and show strong anger

describes strong feeling growing until it is openly shown rather than sudden loss
to bubble over
vsto spill over
2 4.7

To be so full of strong feeling or excitement that you show it clearly

focuses on the feeling becoming too strong to be contained

Antonyms

to contain
388 3.5

To keep something dangerous from spreading or getting worse

to suppress
88 5.8

To hold back feelings or reactions

How Intense

to burst out
9 3.3
to spill over
3 5.3
to well up
23 5.2

Surface Forms

spill over infinitive
spilled over past
spilled over past participle
spilling over present participle
spills over third person singular

Morphology

spill + over

The sense arises from a straightforward metaphorical extension of 'spill' (liquid escaping containment) plus 'over' (beyond a boundary), so the image of emotions overflowing is directly suggested by the constituents. This mapping is common across languages and likely inferable by a B1 learner who knows the words, but it requires a metaphorical transfer from liquid to emotion rather than purely compositional meaning, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Spill over uses the same picture: feelings are like a liquid that spills over when the container cannot hold them. So, it means feelings 'become too strong to keep inside' and show openly.