keep
/kiːp//kiːp/·verb
01Definition
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.
02In use
- iIt takes real effort to keep your composure when everyone around you is starting to panic.
- iiCareful notes help you keep facts that you would otherwise lose within a week.
- iiiThey chose to keep the family house long after it would have been easier to abandon it.
03Collocations
- keep a promise
- keep a secret
- keep a record
- keep in touch
- keep track of
Family keeper (noun) · keeping (noun) · upkeep (noun)
04Relations
05Compared
| Pair | The difference |
|---|---|
| keep vs abandon | let it go for good → abandon; hold on to it → keep. |
| keep vs desert | break away from a bond you were bound to → desert; hold to it → keep. |
| keep vs forsake | renounce something you once cherished → forsake; hold on to it → keep. |
| keep vs give up | stop and let go → give up; hold on and carry on → keep. |
| keep vs leave behind | carry the thing with you → keep; move on without it → leave behind. |
Also compared with relinquish, retain
06TOEFL & IELTS
An everyday, high-frequency verb; for academic register reach for retain, preserve or maintain instead. Note the phrasal family (keep up, keep on, keep to) and keep + -ing for continued action (keep trying). Useful collocations: keep a record / keep pace with / keep track of. Don't blur it with retain — retain adds the sense of holding on against a force or the risk of loss.
07Asked
Is it 'keep doing' or 'keep to do'?
Always keep doing — keep takes the -ing form and never a to-infinitive: she kept trying, prices keep rising. The same holds with an object between: don't keep me waiting, not 'to wait'. If you need an infinitive structure, change the verb — continue accepts both (continue to try / continue trying); keep does not.
Does 'keep on doing' mean the same as 'keep doing'?
Often, yes — but keep on can add stubbornness. It frequently suggests persistence in the face of something, sometimes to the speaker's irritation: he kept on interrupting hints that he was told, or should have known, to stop. Plain keep trying is neutral encouragement; keep on trying can lean defiant — a continuation against discouragement rather than simply a continuation.
What is the opposite of keep?
It depends on how the thing goes: you abandon what you decide to walk away from, lose what slips away unwilled, and discard what you judge no longer worth the space — three different endings for one act of holding. The sharpest of these contrasts is animated on the abandon vs keep page in the 'Compared' list above. The scene above hints at why the opposites multiply: the hands hold their small light in one quiet, unchanging way, but there are many ways to stop.
Is 'keep in mind' the same as 'bear in mind'?
Yes — both mean to remember something while acting or deciding, and they swap freely: keep in mind that scores vary / bear in mind that scores vary. Keep in mind is more common in American English and feels a touch more everyday; bear in mind sounds slightly more formal and is well loved in British instructions. Neither is wrong anywhere.
What is the past tense of keep?
Kept — irregular, and identical as past participle: keep, kept, kept. She kept her promise; the records have been kept for decades. There is no 'keeped'. Notice the vowel shortening too, /kiːp/ but /kept/ — the same clipped pattern as sleep–slept and sweep–swept, so if you know one of the family you know them all.
Is keep too informal for academic essays?
Keep itself is fine but plain, and its fixed phrases stay strong in any register — keep pace with, keep a record of. For the bare sense of holding on, academic prose usually upgrades to retain, preserve or maintain. Where exactly keep ends and retain begins is drawn out on the keep vs retain page in the 'Compared' list above.
What does 'keep track of' mean?
To stay continuously informed about something that changes — spending, deadlines, whereabouts: the app keeps track of every payment; I lost track of time. The image is a hunter following tracks: the thing moves, and you keep sight of its trail. Useful cousins are keep pace with (match its speed) and keep count of (know how many).