Word.ws English Dictionary

carried on

carried on is the simple past and past participle of carry on.

Meaning of carry on

Verb

carry on (third-person singular simple present carries on, present participle carrying on, simple past and past participle carried on)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To continue or proceed as before.
    • I’ll be gone for a few days, but I hope you will carry on in my absence.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To continue, maintain or pursue (an activity or enterprise).
    • to carry on commerce in a market
  3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To persist, persevere.
    • Near-synonyms: keep on, hang in, hang on, keep on keeping on
  4. (idiomatic, intransitive) To talk continuously or prolongedly (about something), often in an excessively excited way.
    • Near-synonym: go on
    Synonyms:
    go on
  5. (idiomatic, intransitive) To act or behave; especially, to misbehave so as to attract attention; to make a fuss; to behave ostentatiously.
    • I really wish you wouldn't carry on like that in public!
  6. (idiomatic, intransitive) To have an illicit sexual or flirtatious relationship.
    • I thought he was my friend, but all the time he was carrying on with my wife!

See all 7 meanings of carry on

Questions about carried on

What is carried on the simple past and past participle of?
Carried on is the simple past and past participle of carry on.

Words near carried on in the dictionary

  1. carried corn
  2. carried everything before one
  3. carried forward
  4. carried interest
  5. carried off
  6. carried on
  7. carried on like a pork chop
  8. carried one's own hide to market
  9. carried one's weight
  10. carried oneself
  11. carried out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carried on (page history and authors); carry on (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “carried on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/carried_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.