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

That’s harder to find in fashion these days, as the comparable speed of digital culture increases trend turnover and even algorithmic advertising struggles to keep up with what looking empirically cool means. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Oct. 2026

Although hiring of permanent faculty — those with tenure or on tenure-track — has not kept up with enrollment, the university’s total faculty hiring has matched student growth nearly perfectly. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 6 Oct. 2026

The record-high stock prices are helping investors feel better about their finances, or at least less bad, when Americans are generally feeling discouraged about keeping up with the fast-rising cost of living. — Stan Choe, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026

Unable to keep up with the costs, some 83 million have simply decided to drop their coverage in recent years. — Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 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)