keep down
verb
kept down; keeping down; keeps down
1
: to keep in control
keep expenses down
2
: to prevent from growing, advancing, or succeeding
Examples of keep down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But Hawke is a hard guy to keep down.
—
David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 13 Jan. 2026
All in all, a course of Xofluza might be easier for you—or your kid already queasy from the flu itself—to get down and keep down.
—Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 12 Jan. 2026
And/or medication that was not kept down.
—Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 9 Jan. 2026
These attempts to keep down the unquiet dead were, besides being desecrations, exercises in a lot of heavy and often forbidden labor done on decaying bodies.
—Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for keep down
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Keep down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/keep%20down. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
