Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping up with the Joneses

keeping up with the Joneses is the present participle and gerund of keep up with the Joneses.

Meaning of keep up with the Joneses

Verb

keep up with the Joneses (third-person singular simple present keeps up with the Joneses, present participle keeping up with the Joneses, simple past and past participle kept up with the Joneses)

  1. (idiomatic) To act or make purchases for status or image rather than out of need, especially for the purpose of competing with friends, neighbors, or society.
    • Do you really need a fancy new car or are you just trying to keep up with the Joneses?

Questions about keeping up with the Joneses

What is keeping up with the Joneses the present participle and gerund of?
Keeping up with the Joneses is the present participle and gerund of keep up with the Joneses.

Words near keeping up with the Joneses in the dictionary

  1. keeping tryst
  2. keeping under
  3. keeping up
  4. keeping up appearances
  5. keeping up with
  6. keeping up with the Joneses
  7. keeping up with the times
  8. keeping vigil
  9. keeping watch
  10. keeping wicket
  11. keeping-room

Source and license

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