Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping a close watch

keeping a close watch is the present participle and gerund of keep a close watch.

Meaning of keep a close watch

Verb

keep a close watch (third-person singular simple present keeps a close watch, present participle keeping a close watch, simple past and past participle kept a close watch)

  1. (idiomatic) To pay careful attention to a situation or a thing, so that you can deal with any changes or problems.
    • The prime minister asked the home secretary to keep a close watch on the flooding situation.

Questions about keeping a close watch

What is keeping a close watch the present participle and gerund of?
Keeping a close watch is the present participle and gerund of keep a close watch.

Words near keeping a close watch in the dictionary

  1. keepie-uppies
  2. keepin'
  3. keepin' on truckin'
  4. keeping
  5. keeping a civil tongue in one's head
  6. keeping a close watch
  7. keeping a cool head
  8. keeping a dog and barking oneself
  9. keeping a lid on
  10. keeping a look-out
  11. keeping a low profile

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeping a close watch (page history and authors); keep a close watch (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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Cite this entry: “keeping a close watch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keeping_a_close_watch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.