keep down

verb

kept down; keeping down; keeps down

transitive verb

1

: to keep in control

keep expenses down

2

: to prevent from growing, advancing, or succeeding

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Use mulch to preserve moisture and keep down weeds, which compete for water and nutrients. —Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 7 Apr. 2023

Republicans across the country blame Trump for midterm election defeats that cost them control of the Senate and kept down their margin of victory in the House. —Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2023

This exceeded the city’s goal of 80-percent recyclable materials and helped keep down the city’s recycling costs. —cleveland, 11 Nov. 2022

But there may be potential state funding that could be found to help keep down costs, Gates said. —Lori Riley, Hartford Courant, 7 May 2022

Buy American legislation say the federal government should engage with as many producers as possible to keep down costs. —Stephen Singer, courant.com, 26 Dec. 2021

The main way is trying anything to make store workers more efficient at putting together grocery orders to keep down costs. —New York Times, 9 June 2021

The Bank’s actions have helped keep down the cost of government borrowing; even with the massive deficit, ten-year gilts offer an annual return of a mere 0.2%. —The Economist, 5 Nov. 2020

Fueling the trend is a drop in local government creditworthiness that has left public officials looking for ways to keep down borrowing costs. —Heather Gillers, WSJ, 22 Oct. 2020

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Word History

First Known Use

1548, in the meaning defined at sense 1