keep to oneself

1. Also, keep oneself to oneself . Shun the company of others, value one's privacy, as in She kept to herself all morning , or, as Doris Lessing put it in In Pursuit of the English (1960): “She keeps herself to herself so much.” [Late 1600s]

2. Refrain from revealing, hold secret, as in He promised to keep the news to himself . Also see the synonym keep under one's hat .

Example Sentences

Indeed, sometimes the sort of thing that might be best kept to oneself.

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“But still, things of that sort are usually kept to oneself.”

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Or perhaps they had just learned a lesson that Mr. Tale-Yax so clearly had not: better to keep to oneself than to risk the trouble that comes from extending a helping hand.

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One should not be an artist save when one absolutely cannot keep to oneself the feeling one has—only when one has too much feeling.

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One could buy expensive digital books which one was allowed to share, quote, or copy for classroom use, and cheaper ones which one had to keep to oneself.

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Related Words

• conceal 
• deduct 
• deny 
• detain 
• hide 
• keep 
• refuse 
• resist 
• retain 
• suppress