Word.ws English Dictionary

kept vigil

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

Meaning of keep vigil

Verb

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

  1. To wait and watch, especially overnight.
    • Sven, for the most part, stayed in the backdrop hovering nervously near the parlor window, where he now kept vigil for newly arriving guests .2013, John E. Rawson, Blind Vigil, page 102
  2. To observe the deceased overnight.
    • Rafael died this morning, and this afternoon we are going to keep vigil over him.
    Synonyms:
    have a wake

Questions about kept vigil

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

Words near kept vigil in the dictionary

  1. kept up
  2. kept up appearances
  3. kept up with
  4. kept up with the Joneses
  5. kept up with the times
  6. kept vigil
  7. kept watch
  8. kept wicket
  9. kept woman
  10. kept women
  11. keptest

Source and license

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