Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping counsel

keeping counsel is the present participle and gerund of keep counsel.

Meaning of keep counsel

Verb

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

  1. (intransitive) To keep one's counsel.
    • A lady, sir, as you will find, / Keeps counsel, or she speaks her mind, / Means what she says and scorns to fence / And palter with feigned innocence.1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers

Questions about keeping counsel

What is keeping counsel the present participle and gerund of?
Keeping counsel is the present participle and gerund of keep counsel.

Words near keeping counsel in the dictionary

  1. keeping away from
  2. keeping back
  3. keeping body and soul together
  4. keeping cave
  5. keeping company
  6. keeping counsel
  7. keeping count
  8. keeping down
  9. keeping faith
  10. keeping from
  11. keeping going

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeping counsel (page history and authors); keep counsel (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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