Word.ws English Dictionary

keep one's head down

keep one's head down verb: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see keep, one, head, down.

Verb

keep one's head down (third-person singular simple present keeps one's head down, present participle keeping one's head down, simple past and past participle kept one's head down)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see keep, one, head, down.
    • I had to keep my head down so my ex wouldn't recognize me as I walked by.
  2. (idiomatic) To avoid trouble or attention.
    • He's keeping his head down after being blasted for his offensive tweets.

Forms of keep one's head down

third-person singular presentkeeps one's head down
present participlekeeping one's head down
past participlekept one's head down
pastkept one's head down

Questions about keep one's head down

What does keep one's head down mean?
Keep one's head down means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see keep, one, head, down.
What part of speech is keep one's head down?
Keep one's head down is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep one's head down?
The past tense of keep one's head down is kept one's head down.

Words near keep one's head down in the dictionary

  1. keep one's hands to oneself
  2. keep one's head
  3. keep one's head above the water
  4. keep one's head above water
  5. keep one's head below the parapet
  6. keep one's head down
  7. keep one's head on a swivel
  8. keep one's head on one's shoulders
  9. keep one's head up
  10. keep one's head upon one's shoulders
  11. keep one's knickers on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep one's head down (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 down.ogg.

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