keep at

British  

verb

1. (intr) to persevere with or persist in

2. (tr) to constrain (a person) to continue doing (a task)

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keep at Idioms  

1. Persevere or persist at doing something. For example, If you keep at your math, you'll soon master it . It is also put as keep at it , as in He kept at it all day and finally finished the report . [Early 1800s]

2. keep at someone . Nag, harass, or annoy someone, as in You have to keep at Carl if you want him to do the work , or He keeps at Millie all the time . Also see keep after .

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Example Sentences

Under the old rules, margin account holders who made four or more day-trades within five business days had to keep at least $25,000 in their accounts, effectively shutting out smaller traders.

From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026

“But if you keep at it for a while, you can get a really good product out of it,” Kanekar added.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

Ukraine has learned to safeguard this trade by using naval drones to keep at bay Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 1, 2026

Raman said she is exploring whether those dollars could be used to keep at least some of the 14,500 households at risk housed, something other officials said they are looking at as well.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025

I’d keep at it until he’d change the subject, though—because of what happened between me and my own son.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer