Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping the ball rolling

keeping the ball rolling is the present participle and gerund of keep the ball rolling.

Meaning of keep the ball rolling

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To continue an action indicated in the context; to sustain a process.
    • Then there was a pause. Our new acquaintance had become involved in a vexatious difficulty with his pipe. . . . To keep the ball rolling I asked Marlow if this Powell was remarkable in any way.1913, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Chance

Questions about keeping the ball rolling

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

Words near keeping the ball rolling in the dictionary

  1. keeping soul and body together
  2. keeping straight
  3. keeping stumm
  4. keeping tabs on
  5. keeping the baby
  6. keeping the ball rolling
  7. keeping the book
  8. keeping the field
  9. keeping the flag flying
  10. keeping the home fires burning
  11. keeping the lights on

Source and license

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