Word.ws English Dictionary

kept the ball rolling

kept the ball rolling is the simple past and past participle 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 kept the ball rolling

What is kept the ball rolling the simple past and past participle of?
Kept the ball rolling is the simple past and past participle of keep the ball rolling.

Words near kept the ball rolling in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept 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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