keep the peace

Idioms  

1. Maintain public order; prevent strife. For example, President Clinton ordered troops to Bosnia to keep the peace. This expression dates from the 1400s and was originally used more in the first sense, that is, of police keeping public order. It gained extra currency in the second half of the 1900s when military forces were sent to diverse places—Lebanon, Haiti, Bosnia—to stop warring factions.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

keep the peace

A force spokesperson said it respected everyone's rights to protest lawfully while also aiming to keep the peace and ensure public safety.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

All these organizations—NCAG, IVC, and ISF—are the names given to new security forces to keep the peace and technocratic groups to form a new government, but here’s the thing: None of them exist yet.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

Here’s the easiest and the smartest route to take: keep the peace while your sister is alive.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

On Wednesday, Paz announced a cabinet reshuffle in a bid to keep the peace.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

Burnham, partly to keep the peace, also urged Olmsted to accept it.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson