keep

CEFRA1

/kiːp/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To continue having something or make it stay in a particular place.

  2. 02

    verb

    To store or care for something so it remains safe.

Examples

  • It is important to keep calm in an emergency.

  • It's useless to keep on thinking any more.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [k̟çi(ː)p]
  • [kʰɪjp]

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To hold the status of something., To maintain possession of.

  2. To remain faithful to a given promise or word.

  3. To continue in (a course or mode of action); to not intermit or fall from; to uphold or maintain.

More examples

In context

  • My parents keep arguing about stupid things. It's so annoying!

  • I keep a small stock of painkillers for emergencies.

  • to keep one's word; to keep one's promise

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Please blank the door closed to prevent the cold air from coming inside.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English kepen (“to keep, guard, look after, watch”), from Old English cēpan (“to seize, hold, observe”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōpijan, from Proto-Germanic *kōpijaną (“to look, heed, watch, observe”) (compare West Frisian kypje (“to look”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵab-, *ǵāb- (“to look after”) (compare Lithuanian žẽbti (“to eat reluctantly”), Russian забо́та (zabóta, “care, worry”)). The dialectal sense of the verb meaning “to put back” or “put away” may be analyzed as a semantic loan from a local language—compare Welsh cadw and Mandarin 收 (shōu).