Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping down

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

Meaning of keep down

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To repress.
    • The dictatorial state keeps down its dissidents very efficiently.
  2. (transitive) To restrain or control (a sound).
    • We must keep the noise down, or the neighbours will complain.
  3. (transitive) To cause not to increase or rise.
    • It is essential to keep the numbers down to avoid overcrowding.
  4. (transitive) To retain in the stomach without vomiting.
    • It is difficult to keep anything down when you have the flu.
  5. (intransitive) To lie low; to stay concealed by not standing up.
    • You had better keep down or they will see you.
  6. (obsolete) To refrain from using capital letters more than absolutely necessary.
    Antonyms:
    keep up

Questions about keeping down

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

Words near keeping down in the dictionary

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

Source and license

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

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Cite this entry: “keeping down.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keeping_down. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.