Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping it in the family

keeping it in the family is the present participle of keep it in the family.

Meaning of keep it in the family

Verb

keep it in the family (third-person singular simple present keeps it in the family, present participle keeping it in the family, simple past and past participle kept it in the family)

  1. (idiomatic) To restrict knowledge or information to only the members of a family or another small, intimate group.
    • Near-synonyms: keep one's own counsel, keep one's mouth shut, STFU; see also Thesaurus:be quiet
  2. (idiomatic) To remain loyal to one's family; to retain family ownership of a business for long period of time.

Questions about keeping it in the family

What is keeping it in the family the present participle of?
Keeping it in the family is the present participle of keep it in the family.

Words near keeping it in the family in the dictionary

  1. keeping it a buck
  2. keeping it a buck fifty
  3. keeping it a stack
  4. keeping it between the ditches
  5. keeping it in one's pants
  6. keeping it in the family
  7. keeping it moving
  8. keeping it one hundred
  9. keeping it together
  10. keeping it up
  11. keeping measures

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeping it in the family (page history and authors); keep it in the family (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 it in the family.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keeping_it_in_the_family. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.