Word.ws English Dictionary

keep the rent down

keep the rent down verb: to deter undesirables from a space, especially through intentionally off-putting behavior.

Verb

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

  1. (Internet, idiomatic, slang) To deter undesirables from a space, especially through intentionally off-putting behavior.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see keep, the, rent, down.

Forms of keep the rent down

third-person singular presentkeeps the rent down
present participlekeeping the rent down
past participlekept the rent down
pastkept the rent down

Origin of keep the rent down

An ellipsis of longer phrases such as "firing gunshots to keep the rent down" or "keeping the rent down in the neighborhood," referring to an alleged method for preventing gentrification.

Questions about keep the rent down

What does keep the rent down mean?
Keep the rent down means to deter undesirables from a space, especially through intentionally off-putting behavior.
What part of speech is keep the rent down?
Keep the rent down is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep the rent down?
The past tense of keep the rent down is kept the rent down.

Words near keep the rent down in the dictionary

  1. keep the lights on
  2. keep the pace
  3. keep the peace
  4. keep the pot boiling
  5. keep the powder dry
  6. keep the rent down
  7. keep the rent low
  8. keep the show on the road
  9. keep the wolf from the door
  10. keep time
  11. keep to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep the rent 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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “keep the rent down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keep_the_rent_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.