Word.ws English Dictionary

keeps back

keeps back is the third-person singular simple present indicative of keep back.

Meaning of keep back

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To hold back; to refuse to give or share.
  2. (intransitive) To stay back; to refrain from approaching.
  3. (transitive) To restrict or restrain.
    • Germany eased off in the second half and this was a night when Joachim Löw, like Southgate, took the opportunity to keep back his best XI.2017 November 10, Daniel Taylor, “Youthful England earn draw with Germany but Lingard rues late miss”, in The Guardian (London)
  4. (transitive) To prevent (a pupil) from advancing in a course.

Questions about keeps back

What is keeps back the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Keeps back is the third-person singular simple present indicative of keep back.

Words near keeps back in the dictionary

  1. keeps an eye skinned
  2. keeps around
  3. keeps at
  4. keeps away
  5. keeps away from
  6. keeps back
  7. keeps body and soul together
  8. keeps cave
  9. keeps company
  10. keeps counsel
  11. keeps count

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeps back (page history and authors); keep back (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: “keeps back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keeps_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.