KEEPING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does keeping mean? 

• KEEPING (noun)
  The noun KEEPING has 3 senses:

1. conformity or harmony

2. the responsibility of a guardian or keeper

3. the act of retaining something

  Familiarity information: KEEPING used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KEEPING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Conformity or harmony

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

his behavior was not in keeping with the occasion

Hypernyms ("keeping" is a kind of...):

abidance; compliance; conformation; conformity (acting according to certain accepted standards)

Derivation:

keep (conform one's action or practice to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The responsibility of a guardian or keeper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

guardianship; keeping; safekeeping

Context example:

he left his car in my keeping

Hypernyms ("keeping" is a kind of...):

duty; obligation; responsibility (the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "keeping"):

custody; hands ((with 'in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child)

Derivation:

keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of retaining something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

holding; keeping; retention

Hypernyms ("keeping" is a kind of...):

ownership; possession (the act of having and controlling property)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "keeping"):

withholding (the act of holding back or keeping within your possession or control)

storage (the act of storing something)

Derivation:

keep (retain possession of)

 Context examples 

And certainly it was he that caused the mother the most trouble in keeping her litter from the mouth of the cave.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

When the researchers changed only the amount of GAGs these native valve cells were exposed to, while keeping all other conditions the same, they observed surprising results that challenged previous assumptions.

(New Hope for Stopping An Understudied Heart Disease in Its Tracks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Applying nitrogen at the correct levels can optimize yield and profit while keeping excess nutrients out of rivers, lakes and groundwater.

(New Test Can Determine Nitrogen Levels in Soil, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Powerful winds transport heat from the day-side around the planet, keeping the permanent night-side almost as hot.

(NASA Finds a Large Amount of Water in an Exoplanet's Atmosphere, NASA)

By keeping T cells in this state, the tumors can avoid attack and continue to grow.

(Harnessing T-cell “stemness” could enhance cancer immunotherapy, National Institutes of Health)

The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for March 2015 was the highest for the month since record keeping began in 1880.

(March 2015 and first quarter of year warmest on record, NOAA)

It was she whom I had heard pecking at a piece of bark; it was she, keeping better watch than any human being, who thus announced my arrival with her wearisome refrain.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

My late experiences with Mr. and Mrs. Micawber suggested to me that here might be a means of keeping off the wolf for a little while.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When these horse-keeping farmers need cash, they track down their horses in the forest and sell them.

(Belly up to the bamboo buffet: Pandas vs. horses, NSF)

It is thought that tidal heating has extended the lifetimes of subsurface oceans on Europa and Enceladus by keeping their interiors warm.

(Cracks in Pluto's moon could indicate it once had an underground ocean, NASA)