Word.ws English Dictionary

kept time

kept time is the simple past and past participle of keep time.

Meaning of keep time

Verb

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

  1. To measure time.
  2. To indicate the time correctly (of a timepiece).
    • How well does this old watch keep time?
    Antonyms:
    lose time
  3. To make any regular rhythmical movements at the same time with others.
    • He couldn't carry a tune in a wheelbarrow, but he keeps time like a damn machine.
  4. To control the beat or rhythm of a song played by a music group.
    • Isn't one of the conductor's main jobs to keep time?
  5. To maintain a schedule set out in a timetable. (e.g. of a train)
    • We never had a chance even to attempt to keep time. An empty stock train from Stewarts Lane was given the road just ahead of us, and from Grosvenor Bridge to Herne Hill we had the signals against us all the way.1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 220
    Antonyms:
    lose time

Questions about kept time

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

Words near kept time in the dictionary

  1. kept the peace
  2. kept the pot boiling
  3. kept the powder dry
  4. kept the show on the road
  5. kept the wolf from the door
  6. kept time
  7. kept to
  8. kept to one's knitting
  9. kept to oneself
  10. kept together
  11. kept tryst

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept time (page history and authors); keep time (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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