keep at
Britishverb
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(intr) to persevere with or persist in
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(tr) to constrain (a person) to continue doing (a task)
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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]
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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 .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This isn’t out of the ordinary, either — a Bankrate survey earlier this year found that 62% of couples who are married, in a civil partnership or living together keep at least some accounts separate.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
The exchange took part in a trial run to tokenize securities that Wall Street firms keep at Depository Trust & Clearing, a leading trade processor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Low-impact exercise refers to exercises where you keep at least one foot on the ground, or support the body in some other way.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
“We have all these song ideas from all these years, and we just keep at it. Knowing we’ve got another record to do keeps us going.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
The spike plunged into him, that familiar anxiety he worked so hard to keep at bay.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
