Word.ws English Dictionary

kept one's own counsel

kept one's own counsel is the simple past and past participle of keep one's own counsel.

Meaning of keep one's own counsel

Verb

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

  1. To keep one's own business private; to be discreet, careful, or circumspect in what one says concerning one's own thoughts, deeds, or situation.
    • Near-synonyms: keep one's cards close to one's chest, keep it in the family, keep one's mouth shut; see also Thesaurus:be quiet

Questions about kept one's own counsel

What is kept one's own counsel the simple past and past participle of?
Kept one's own counsel is the simple past and past participle of keep one's own counsel.

Words near kept one's own counsel in the dictionary

  1. kept one's lips sealed
  2. kept one's mouth shut
  3. kept one's nerve
  4. kept one's nose clean
  5. kept one's options open
  6. kept one's own counsel
  7. kept one's pants on
  8. kept one's pecker up
  9. kept one's powder dry
  10. kept one's shirt on
  11. kept one's side of the bargain

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept one's own counsel (page history and authors); keep one's own counsel (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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