Meaning & use
cooped up at home
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformal
forced to stay inside a house or small space for a long time, often feeling bored or restless
Grammar: Used after 'be' or 'feel': 'We were cooped up at home.' It describes a state, not an action.
Patterns
- be cooped up at home
- feel cooped up at home
- be cooped up at home for + time
After two weeks of rain, the kids were cooped up at home and full of energy.
I hate being cooped up at home when the weather is nice.
She felt cooped up at home during the lockdown and started going for long walks.
Common combinations
- cooped up at home all day
- He was cooped up at home all day with a cold.
- cooped up at home for weeks
- They were cooped up at home for weeks during the storm.
- feel cooped up
- I start to feel cooped up if I don't go outside.
- cooped up inside
- The cat was cooped up inside while we were away.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stuck at home
- Similar meaning, but 'stuck at home' often suggests you cannot leave because of a problem, while 'cooped up' emphasizes the feeling of being trapped in a small space.
- housebound
- More formal and often used for people who cannot leave home for health reasons; 'cooped up' is more about feeling restless.
Opposites
Commonly confused: cooped up at home or cooped up in?
cooped up at home vs cooped up in
If you mention the place, use 'in': 'cooped up in the house', not 'cooped up at the house'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cooped up at home' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase describes a state, so it needs 'be' or 'feel' before it: 'was cooped up at home'. Option 2 is wrong because 'coop up' is not used as an active verb in this phrase. Option 3 uses the wrong preposition. Option 4 is contradictory: if you were cooped up, you did not go out.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cooped up at home”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.