keep up

verb

kept up; keeping up; keeps up

transitive verb

: to persist or persevere in

kept up the good work

also : maintain, sustain

keep standards up

intransitive verb

1

: to keep adequately informed or up-to-date

keep up on international affairs

2

: to continue without interruption

rain kept up all night

3

: to maintain contact or relations with someone

keep up with old friends

Synonyms of keep up

• survive
• last
• prevail

Examples of keep up in a Sentence

let's hope that old air conditioner keeps up through this heat wave

kept the house up while the owners were gone

Recent Examples on the Web

The yards often belong to people who can’t keep up the work anymore. — Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 29 July 2026

The Last Airbender most recently, just because there’s so much else to watch and keep up with. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026

If too many users experience complex payment issues, X’s limited support teams could struggle to keep up, leading to declining engagement. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 29 July 2026

Following the incident, OpenAI said that AI is accelerating the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities, which means model security and safety need to keep up. — Ashley Capoot,kate Rooney, CNBC, 27 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for keep up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup

Kids Definition

keep up

verb

1

: maintain sense 1

keep standards up

2

: to stay well informed about something

keep up on the news

3

: to continue without interruption

rain kept up all night

4

: to stay even with others (as in a race)