Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping one's guard up

keeping one's guard up is the present participle and gerund of keep one's guard up.

Meaning of keep one's guard up

Verb

keep one's guard up (third-person singular simple present keeps one's guard up, present participle keeping one's guard up, simple past and past participle kept one's guard up)

  1. To be careful and alert to the possibility of danger.
    Synonyms:
    have one's guard up, be on one's guard

Questions about keeping one's guard up

What is keeping one's guard up the present participle and gerund of?
Keeping one's guard up is the present participle and gerund of keep one's guard up.

Words near keeping one's guard up in the dictionary

  1. keeping one's eyes on the ball
  2. keeping one's eyes open
  3. keeping one's eyes peeled
  4. keeping one's eyes skinned
  5. keeping one's fingers crossed
  6. keeping one's guard up
  7. keeping one's hair on
  8. keeping one's head
  9. keeping one's head above the water
  10. keeping one's head above water
  11. keeping one's head below the parapet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeping one's guard up (page history and authors); keep one's guard up (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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