Word.ws English Dictionary

keep an eye open

keep an eye open verb: to remain vigilant for someone or something.

Verb

keep an eye open (third-person singular simple present keeps an eye open, present participle keeping an eye open, simple past and past participle kept an eye open)

  1. (idiomatic) To remain vigilant for someone or something.
  2. (idiomatic) To remain vigilant for a possibly dangerous situation.

Synonyms of keep an eye open

Forms of keep an eye open

third-person singular presentkeeps an eye open
present participlekeeping an eye open
past participlekept an eye open
pastkept an eye open

Questions about keep an eye open

What does keep an eye open mean?
Keep an eye open means to remain vigilant for someone or something.
What part of speech is keep an eye open?
Keep an eye open is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep an eye open?
The past tense of keep an eye open is kept an eye open.

Words near keep an eye open in the dictionary

  1. keep a weather eye open
  2. keep across
  3. keep ahead
  4. keep an act
  5. keep an eye on
  6. keep an eye open
  7. keep an eye out
  8. keep an eye peeled
  9. keep an eye skinned
  10. keep apace
  11. keep around

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep an eye open (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-keep an eye open.ogg.

Cite this entry: “keep an eye open.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keep_an_eye_open. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.