Word.ws English Dictionary

carries on

carries on is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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 carries on

What is carries on the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Carries on is the third-person singular simple present indicative of carry on.

Words near carries on in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carries 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: “carries on.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/carries_on. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.