keep one's head
keep one's head verb: to remain calm, reasonable, level-headed, especially in a situation likely to cause distress.
Verb
keep one's head (third-person singular simple present keeps one's head, present participle keeping one's head, simple past and past participle kept one's head)
- To remain calm, reasonable, level-headed, especially in a situation likely to cause distress.
- If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you . . .1895, Rudyard Kipling, If— - The ruffian kept his head, and though the dog's teeth were in his shoulder, he managed to get his right hand free.1910, John Buchan, chapter 16, in Prester John
- If you can keep your head when all about you
Antonyms of keep one's head
Forms of keep one's head
| third-person singular present | keeps one's head |
|---|---|
| present participle | keeping one's head |
| past participle | kept one's head |
| past | kept one's head |
| alternative form | keep one's head on one's shoulders |
Questions about keep one's head
- What does keep one's head mean?
- Keep one's head means to remain calm, reasonable, level-headed, especially in a situation likely to cause distress.
- What part of speech is keep one's head?
- Keep one's head is a verb.
- What is the past tense of keep one's head?
- The past tense of keep one's head is kept one's head.
Words near keep one's head in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: keep one's head (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-keep one's head.ogg.
Cite this entry: “keep one's head.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keep_one%27s_head. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.