Keep and leave behind are opposites. To keep something is to hold on to it and carry it with you (keep a memento, keep your roots). To leave something behind is to move on without it — to let it stay where it is as you go forward (leave behind an umbrella, leave the past behind). One carries the thing along; the other moves on without it.
These two pull opposite ways as you move forward. Keep, from Old English cēpan ('to hold'), carries the thing with you — held close, brought along. Leave behind does the reverse: the thing stays put while you go on, whether forgotten, outpaced, or outgrown. Where keep brings it along, leave behind lets it fall away. Keep carries; leave behind lets go as you move.
keep
To keep something is to go on having it — the plainest, widest word for not letting go. It comes from Old English cēpan, 'to seize, hold, observe', and it has kept that open reach: you keep a promise, a secret, a seat, a pet, your temper. Unlike retain, which holds on deliberately against the chance of loss, keep can be effortless and ordinary. Its true opposite is to abandon — to set a thing down and walk away from it for good.
leave behind
To leave something behind is to move on without it — sometimes by accident, sometimes just by outpacing it. It can be physical (you leave behind an umbrella) or figurative (you leave behind the doubts of an earlier self). Where abandon is a conscious giving-up and desert is a betrayal of a duty, leave behind is usually incidental or a matter of progress: the thing simply stays put while you carry on. You can also leave behind a legacy — the mark that remains once you have moved on.
| keep | leave behind | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | to hold on to something and carry it along | to move on without something |
| As you move | bring it with you | let it stay; it falls away |
| The thing | held close, carried | left where it was |
| Often with | keep a memento, your roots, a habit | leave behind keys, the past, rivals, a legacy |
| Direction | carry along | move past |
| Example | She kept a photo from every trip. | She left her old life behind. |
They are opposites — carry it along or move on without it. Keep is the hands folded around the light, holding it close and bringing it with you (keep a memento, keep your roots). Leave behind is the bag still steaming on the café table as the man walks out and it falls away behind him (leave the past behind, leave the keys behind). If you carry the thing with you, you keep it; if you move on without it, you leave it behind.
keep
- iHe kept his grandfather's watch all his life.
- iiTry to keep your sense of humour through it all.
- iiiShe kept the same habits she learned as a child.
leave behind
- iHe left his umbrella behind at the office.
- iiMoving on, she left the old arguments behind.
- iiiThe leaders soon left their rivals behind.
They are opposites as you go forward: keep carries the thing with you, leave behind lets it stay. The contrast is clearest with the past — keep the memory (hold it) versus leave the past behind (move on from it). Leave behind can be accidental (forgetting) or chosen (outgrowing); keep is always a holding-on.