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

• 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

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? —Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 26 Oct. 2025

Bo Nix can’t struggle and keep up with Dak Prescott, and those 33-point fourth quarters don’t grow on trees. —Jeff Howe, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2025

When DynamoDB came back online, EC2 tried to bring all of its servers back online at once and couldn’t keep up. —Lisa Eadicicco, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2025

An automatic cost-of-living adjustment was added to Social Security benefits in 1975 that ties the adjustment to the consumer price index, meant to help benefits keep up with inflation. —Corina Vanek, AZCentral.com, 25 Oct. 2025

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)