Meaning & use
keep up
Last updated
Meanings
phrasephrasal verb
To move or progress at the same speed as someone or something so that you are not left behind.
Grammar: Usually intransitive and followed by with: keep up with the group.
Patterns
- keep up with someone
- keep up with something
- keep up
She walked quickly to keep up with her older brother.
The slower students found it hard to keep up with the class.
Wages are not keeping up with the cost of rent.
phrasephrasal verb
To stay informed about the latest news, trends or developments.
Grammar: Used with with: I try to keep up with the news.
Patterns
- keep up with something
- keep up with what is happening
It is hard to keep up with the latest phone models.
He reads three newspapers to keep up with politics.
I can barely keep up with my friends' news.
phrasephrasal verb
To continue doing something, or to make something stay at the same level, rather than letting it stop or drop.
Grammar: Takes an object, which can come before or after up: keep up the pace, or keep the pace up.
Patterns
- keep something up
- keep up something
Keep up the good work and you will pass easily.
We could not keep up the payments after he lost his job.
She kept up her morning run all winter.
phrasephrasal verb
To stop someone from going to bed or sleeping.
Grammar: Takes a person as the object: the noise kept us up.
Patterns
- keep someone up
- keep someone up all night
The thunder kept the children up half the night.
Sorry, I did not mean to keep you up so late.
The baby kept us up until three.
Word forms
| third person singular | keeps up |
|---|---|
| past tense | kept up |
| past participle | kept up |
| -ing form | keeping up |
Common combinations
- keep up with the news
- I check my phone each morning to keep up with the news.
- keep up the pace
- Marathon runners must keep up the pace for hours.
- keep up appearances
- They kept up appearances although they were short of money.
- hard to keep up
- The lecture was so fast it was hard to keep up.
- keep up with the times
- The shop closed because it did not keep up with the times.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stay abreast
- Stay abreast is more formal and mostly refers to information or developments, while keep up can also describe physical speed.
- maintain
- Maintain is a formal word for continuing something at the same level, whereas keep up is more casual.
- continue
- Continue just means not stopping, while keep up adds a sense of effort to stay at a level.
- match
- Match means to equal something, whereas keep up suggests moving along with a moving target.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: keep up or catch up?
keep up vs catch up
Catch up means to reach someone who is ahead of you, while keep up means to stay level with them so that you never fall behind.
Practice
Rents are rising so fast that salaries cannot ___ them.
Choose one answer.
Keep up with means to stay at the same level as something that is moving ahead. The other phrases have different meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “keep up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.