Dictionary

keep on en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To persist or continue.
   • Mum, Jimmy keeps on poking me!
   • The young woman kept on down Front Street, Warwick maintaining his distance a few rods behind her. 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
   • Keep on trucking!
2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To persist in talking about a subject, perhaps to the annoyance of the listener.
   • Coppard was unequivocal when speaking to RAIL about this: "I'll keep on telling the government that MML electrification is really important to us. I raised it with Heidi Alexander [Transport Secretary] last Thursday when she was here." 2026 April 1, Richard Wilcock, “South Yorkshire's sights on a People's Network”, in RAIL, number 1058, page 23:
   • For goodness sake, will you stop keeping on about it!
3. (idiomatic, transitive) To cause or allow to remain in an existing position.
   • The new boss would like to keep the present secretary on.
   • The charge against Zagallo then is not so much that he started Ronaldo, but that when it should surely have been clear that the player was in no fit state to take part he kept him on. 2010, Brian Glanville, The Story of the World Cup: The Essential Companion to South Africa 2010, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 361:
4. (idiomatic, transitive) To cause or allow to remain in an existing position. ▸ To cause or allow to remain in the on or open position.
   • Should I turn off this light or keep it on?
   • Should I shut off this water or keep it on?

Forms

Antonyms

turn off · shut off

Coordinates

turn on

Deriveds

keep on keeping on

Synonyms

continue · go on · leave on

Translations (20)

es quedarse (remain in position) · it persistere (persist or continue) · pl trwać (remain in position) · fi jatkaa (persist or continue) · es quedar (remain in position) · de weiter machen (persist or continue) · de weiter +verb (persist or continue) · ar يبقي (persist or continue) · es seguir (persist or continue) · ang ofstandan (persist or continue) · it continuare (persist or continue) · grc λιπαρέω (persist or continue) · pdc aabhalde (remain in position) · ru продолжа́ть (persist or continue) · bg продължавам (persist or continue) · pl kontynuować (persist or continue) · fi pitää (remain in position) · de behalten (remain in position) · gd lean air (persist or continue) · it mantenere (persist or continue)