Word.ws English Dictionary

for keeps

for keeps prepositional phrase: with an agreement or intention to retain what one gains or receives.

Prepositional phrase

  1. With an agreement or intention to retain what one gains or receives.
    • When we gamble at poker, we play for keeps.
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) With a strong competitive resolve to win or succeed, as in sports or business.
    • "We both got a job to do. They play for keeps and we play for keeps too," Haggans said.2007 Dec. 7, "Steelers' Defense Anticipates Patriots Matchup," KDKA.com (Pittsburg)
  3. Permanently, so that one can keep something indefinitely.
    • The Griswold trophy was presented to its winner, for keeps, since it was the third time she had won it.1925 August 10, “Golf: Shenecossett Invitation”, in Time

for keeps meaning in Urdu and Malayalam

for keeps in Urdu

مکمل سنجیدگی کے ساتھ, مستقل طور پر

for keeps in Malayalam

for always, forever, for over and ever
എന്നേക്കുമായി ശാശ്വതമായി, എന്നെന്നേയ്ക്കും, എല്ലാക്കാലത്തേക്കും, എക്കാലത്തേക്കും, ആചന്ദ്രകാലം, ആചന്ദ്രതാരകം

Synonyms of for keeps

Questions about for keeps

What does for keeps mean?
For keeps means with an agreement or intention to retain what one gains or receives.
What is for keeps in Urdu?
For keeps in Urdu is مکمل سنجیدگی کے ساتھ, مستقل طور پر. See For keeps meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is for keeps?
For keeps is a prepositional phrase.

Words near for keeps in the dictionary

  1. for hours
  2. for instance
  3. for instances
  4. for Ireland
  5. for it
  6. for keeps
  7. for kicks
  8. for lack of
  9. for lack of trying
  10. for land's sake
  11. for land's sake alive

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: for keeps (page history and authors); for keeps (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); for keeps (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-for keeps.ogg.

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