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kept [ kept ] SHOW IPA
/ kɛpt / PHONETIC RESPELLING
🍎 Elementary LevelThis shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
verb
simple past tense and past participle of keep . adjective
having the expression of principles, ideas, etc., controlled, dominated, or determined by one whose money provides support: a kept press; a kept writer.
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Origin of kept 1670–80 for def. 2
OTHER WORDS FROM kept un·kept, adjective well-kept, adjective
Words nearby kept Kepler, Johannes ,
Kepler's law ,
Kepler's laws ,
Kepler's laws of planetary motion ,
Kepler telescope ,
kept ,
ker- ,
Kerak ,
Kerala ,
keramic ,
keramics
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to kept conserved ,
stored ,
clutched ,
guarded ,
held ,
maintained ,
reserved ,
saved ,
withheld ,
celebrated ,
commemorated ,
continued ,
followed ,
fulfilled ,
honored ,
obeyed ,
regarded ,
solemnized ,
unbroken ,
put up
How to use kept in a sentence Have you tried to access the research that your tax dollars finance, almost all of which is kept behind a paywall?
In the 70s, this myth kept openly gay people out of teaching positions.
In the 90s, it kept gay men out of leadership roles in the Boy Scouts of America.
A guard is manning the door, which is always kept ajar so she can be monitored.
I got to work on all of it—and Epstein kept close tabs on me.
And that was that if he and his wife were to ever live together again and be happy, the family were to be kept out of it.
The Princess still kept her eyes fixed on Louis, while, in a suppressed and unsteady voice, she answered her governess.
Edna Pontellier, casting her eyes about, had finally kept them at rest upon the sea.
She kept her eyes fixed steadily on his, saying what followed gently, calmly, yet as though another woman spoke the words.
The major-general kept him well informed of every movement of the enemy, and pointed out the dangerous isolation of Davout.
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British Dictionary definitions for kept
verb
the past tense and past participle of keep kept woman censorious a woman maintained by a man as his mistress
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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