Word.ws English Dictionary

keep the ball rolling

keep the ball rolling verb: to continue an action indicated in the context; to sustain a process.

Verb

keep the ball rolling (third-person singular simple present keeps the ball rolling, present participle keeping the ball rolling, simple past and past participle kept the ball rolling)

  1. (idiomatic) To continue an action indicated in the context; to sustain a process.
    • Then there was a pause. Our new acquaintance had become involved in a vexatious difficulty with his pipe. . . . To keep the ball rolling I asked Marlow if this Powell was remarkable in any way.1913, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Chance
    • But the Gap has a long way to go before it climbs back to its high of $77. . . . Lately, it has been moving back up, closing yesterday at $26.375. On Wednesday, Donald G. Fisher, chairman and chief executive of the Gap, and Millard S. Drexler, president, will try to keep the ball rolling when they...1988 June 10, Isadore Barmash, “Market Place; Can the Gap Be On the Rebound?”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Nov 2017

keep the ball rolling meaning in Tamil and Kannada

keep the ball rolling in Tamil

செயல்கள் தொடர்ந்து நடக்குமாறு செய், செயல்கள் தொடர்ந்து நடக்கும்படி செய்

keep the ball rolling in Kannada

ಮುಂದುವರೆಸು

Examples of keep the ball rolling in a sentence

  • Drexler, president, will try to keep the ball rolling when they talk to New York securities analysts.1988 June 10, Isadore Barmash, “Market Place; Can the Gap Be On the Rebound?”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Nov 2017:
  • Plavin, and others, hope the FAA will keep the ball rolling at the other top ten delay-plagued airports in the country.2001 June 14, Sally Donnelly, “A Smart FAA Plan to Reduce Airport Congestion”, in Time, retrieved 16 Nov 2017:
  • Four days later, inspired to keep the ball rolling, she made another about the same date.2023 March 1, Rachel Ellison, “Bad Dates Turn Out to Be Excellent on TikTok”, in The New York Times:

Forms of keep the ball rolling

third-person singular presentkeeps the ball rolling
present participlekeeping the ball rolling
past participlekept the ball rolling
pastkept the ball rolling

Questions about keep the ball rolling

What does keep the ball rolling mean?
Keep the ball rolling means to continue an action indicated in the context; to sustain a process.
What is keep the ball rolling in Tamil?
Keep the ball rolling in Tamil is செயல்கள் தொடர்ந்து நடக்குமாறு செய், செயல்கள் தொடர்ந்து நடக்கும்படி செய். See Keep the ball rolling meaning in Tamil.
How do you use keep the ball rolling in a sentence?
Drexler, president, will try to keep the ball rolling when they talk to New York securities analysts.
What part of speech is keep the ball rolling?
Keep the ball rolling is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep the ball rolling?
The past tense of keep the ball rolling is kept the ball rolling.

Words near keep the ball rolling in the dictionary

  1. keep stumm
  2. keep tabs on
  3. keep telling yourself that
  4. keep term
  5. keep the baby
  6. keep the ball rolling
  7. keep the bones green
  8. keep the book
  9. keep the change
  10. keep the faith
  11. keep the field

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep the ball rolling (page history and authors); keep the ball rolling (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); keep the ball rolling (Kannada Wiktionary) (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 the ball rolling.ogg.

Cite this entry: “keep the ball rolling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keep_the_ball_rolling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.