keep out

verb

To refrain from entering a place or condition.

“The warning kept him out.”

Similar
excludeshut outshut
Opposite
let inlock in
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbkeep out (third-person singular simple present keeps out, present participle keeping out, simple past and past participle kept out)

present singular third person keeps out · participle present keeping out · participle past kept out · past kept out

  1. intransitiveTo refrain from entering a place or condition.

    After being warned, he kept out.

  2. transitiveTo restrain someone or something from entering a place or condition.

    The warning kept him out.

    1 more example

    Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms.[…]Banks and credit-card firms are kept out of the picture. Talk to enough people in the field and someone is bound to mention the “democratisation of finance”.

    2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71

    Antonyms: let in, lock in

  3. African-American VernacularTo dress up.

    Put me in Chanels, kept me out nice

    1996, Lil' Kim, “Not Tonight”

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo restrain someone or something from entering a place or condition.

Opposite
let inlock in

More synonyms by meaning

verbprevent from entering; shut out

Similar
excludeshut outshut
Broader
preventkeep
Also see
excludeno trespassingshutshut out

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 不進入 /不进入, 阻止進入 /阻止进入
  • 不進入 /不进入 (bù jìnrù)to refrain from entering
  • 阻止進入 /阻止进入 (zǔzhǐ jìnrù)to restrain someone or something
Danish ingen adgang
  • ingen adgangto refrain from entering
Finnish pysyä ulkona, pysytellä ulkona
  • pysyä ulkonato refrain from entering
  • pysytellä ulkonato refrain from entering
  • pitää kaukanato restrain someone or something
French rester en dehors, ne pas entrer
  • rester en dehorsto refrain from entering
  • ne pas entrerto refrain from entering
  • bannirto restrain someone or something
  • exclureto restrain someone or something
Polish trzymać się z daleka, trzymać z daleka
  • trzymać się z dalekato refrain from entering
  • trzymać z dalekato restrain someone or something
Spanish no entrar, quedarse afuera
  • no entrarto refrain from entering
  • quedarse afuerato refrain from entering
  • mantener afuerato restrain someone or something
Cite this entry
APA

keep out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20out

MLA

“keep out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20out. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “keep out,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20out.

Source: keep out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.