Showing results for "kept"

• past participle of keep.
• past tense form of keep.

kept

American  

[kept] / kɛpt /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of keep.

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adjective

1. having the expression of principles, ideas, etc., controlled, dominated, or determined by one whose money provides support.

   a kept press;

   a kept writer.

kept British  

/ kɛpt /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of keep

2. pejorative a woman maintained by a man as his mistress

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Other Word Forms

• unkept
  adjective
• well-kept
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of kept

First recorded in 1670–80 kept for def. 2

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kept

“But they kept saying, ‘We will wait for an evacuation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

I kept believing he was going to lead the Chargers to new heights, even after all the leadership changes he’s been through.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

And he kept trying to push humanity forward.

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026

Israel has reduced its level of attacks but has kept striking Gaza on a near-daily basis.

From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026

“Deuteronomy Thirty-Two Ten. ‘He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.’”

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes