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keeping up with the Joneses

Cultural  
  1. Striving to achieve or own as much as the people around you: “If you want to keep up with the Joneses in this neighborhood, you will have to own at least three cars.”


keeping up with the Joneses Idioms  
  1. see keep up, def. 1.


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.

See Examples For:

With TikTok and Instagram reels constantly bombarding you with ads and influencer promotions, it’s hard not to feel like you’re missing out if you’re not buying the latest products and keeping up with the Joneses.

From Salon Feb. 17, 2025

"I probably would have listened to much more sensible advice and probably steered more by earning more money and keeping up with the Joneses."

From BBC Nov. 18, 2023

And we’re all obsessed with not just keeping up with the Joneses, but beating them.

From Slate Jun. 27, 2020

In other words, keeping up with the Joneses has become keeping up with the Kardashians.

From New York Times Mar. 30, 2019

For reasons that we will not go into here, the Droffs had had difficulty in keeping up with the Joneses, so to speak.

From The Forest Monster of Oz by Bob Evans

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