Word.ws English Dictionary

keep someone honest

keep someone honest verb: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see keep, honest.

Verb

keep someone honest (third-person singular simple present keeps someone honest, present participle keeping someone honest, simple past and past participle kept someone honest)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see keep, honest.
  2. To continue to compete strongly against someone despite being in an inferior position, so as not to allow one's opponent an easy victory.
    • Jones is down ten games to two, but still keeping his opponent honest.

Forms of keep someone honest

third-person singular presentkeeps someone honest
present participlekeeping someone honest
past participlekept someone honest
pastkept someone honest

Questions about keep someone honest

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

Words near keep someone honest in the dictionary

  1. keep sight of
  2. keep someone amused
  3. keep someone busy
  4. keep someone company
  5. keep someone guessing
  6. keep someone honest
  7. keep someone in the loop
  8. keep someone occupied
  9. keep someone on ice
  10. keep someone on their toes
  11. keep someone posted

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep someone honest (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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