Meaning & use
keeper
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person who looks after animals, a place, or a collection.
Grammar: Countable: a keeper, the keepers, two keepers.
Patterns
- a keeper at a zoo
- the keeper of something
The keeper feeds the elephants every morning.
She works as a keeper at the local museum.
He is the keeper of the family records.
nouncountableinformalsport
In soccer and some other sports, the player who defends the goal; short for goalkeeper.
Grammar: Often used in sports reports: 'the keeper made a save.'
Patterns
- the keeper saved the shot
- play as keeper
The keeper dived to catch the ball.
He is the team's first-choice keeper.
She played keeper in the second half.
Word forms
| plural | keepers |
|---|
Common combinations
- zoo keeper
- The zoo keeper cleaned the enclosure.
- goal keeper
- The goal keeper blocked the penalty.
- the keeper of the keys
- He is the keeper of the keys to the castle.
Synonyms and how they differ
- guard
- A guard protects a person or place, often in a security context; a keeper cares for animals or a collection.
- goalkeeper
- Goalkeeper is the full term; keeper is a casual short form used mainly in sports talk.
Word family
Commonly confused: keeper or keeper?
keeper vs keeper
Not to be confused with 'keeper' as in a person who keeps something, which is the same word but different sense.
Practice
In a soccer match, who is the 'keeper'?
Choose one answer.
In soccer, 'keeper' is short for goalkeeper, the player who defends the goal. The other options are different roles.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “keeper”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.