gatekeep

American  

[geyt-keep] / ˈgeɪtˌkip /

verb (used with or without object)

gatekept, gatekeeping

1. to control access to something, or determine the legitimacy of people’s claims to a particular status, by unilaterally imposing criteria for acceptance.

   We gatekeep the counseling profession at the university level—anyone not making the grade is dropped from the program.

   I can't believe you’re trying to gatekeep depression based on your own symptoms.

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Etymology

Origin of gatekeep

First recorded in 1960–65; gate ¹ ( def. ) + keep ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gatekeep gatekeeping gatekept

“If you gatekeep people from accessing, then you’re creating an uneven playing field.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

"AI is here to stay, to gatekeep its capability would be against the beliefs I hold dear about art," he said.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025

“We’re not gonna gatekeep people. We want more women to have more opportunities,” Tosi said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025

“Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss,” Medha Kothari, a crypto investor and co-founder of she256, a nonprofit seeking to bring more women into crypto, wrote on Twitter in response to Kunis’s video.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2022

Mothers shouldn't feel the need to gatekeep, the fear that not doing so will negatively impact their children.

From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2022

“You know, it was just gatekeeping, that now seems sort of repugnant. But it was also a way to establish yourself in opposition to what felt like the only way to be.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

AI experts and users expressed frustration, accusing Anthropic of gatekeeping and blocking benign topics like biology, chemistry and mathematics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

The message has been clear: Set open pathways for innovation and avoid federal gatekeeping.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026

The Gymkhana is expensive to join, but access has long been controlled more by gatekeeping than price.

From BBC ● May 25, 2026

Among the many quotes Ross left with his audience is one that dismantles intimidating concepts about natural ability, the kind of artistic gatekeeping we often impose on ourselves.

From Salon ● May 2, 2026

The average person shouldn’t have to fret that bold ideas and wondrous cinematic visions are being gatekept from them by the people in a boardroom clinging to a conservative agenda.

From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026

“To ask themselves, where can art exist? Can I just do it myself? And can I take agency over this process that’s so heavily gatekept most of the time.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2023

The problem is that most financial institutions have gatekept this info and prevented us from having power and choices.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 30, 2022

Even though they had the best phone in this very early category, they were gatekept out of the market in various ways, but it was still popular.

From The Verge ● Nov. 4, 2021

The clientele there, and in New York, are self-selecting, and the Ace is less a gatekept democracy than an anarcho-libertarian paradise.

From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2011