keep someone up at night

verb

To worry, to disturb, to give someone sleepless nights.

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Meanings

verbkeep someone up at night (third-person singular simple present keeps someone up at night, present participle keeping someone up at night, simple past and past participle kept someone up at night)

present singular third person keeps someone up at night · participle present keeping someone up at night · participle past kept someone up at night · past kept someone up at night

  1. figurativelyinformalTo worry, to disturb, to give someone sleepless nights.

    Reporter: You share this border, more than eight hundred miles, with Vladimir Putin. What keeps you up at night? Niinisto: Nothing keeps me up at night. But in the daytime we... like I have said, we are not afraid, but we are fully awake.

    2023 March 9, Sauli Niinisto, 9:23 from the start, in Finland's President Sees No Reason to Talk to Putin, Bloomberg, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2023

Translations

Arabic أقضّ المضجع
  • أقضّ المضجعTranslations
Finnish valvottaa
  • valvottaaTranslations
French empêcher de dormir
  • empêcher de dormirTranslations
Polish spędzać sen z powiek, spędzić sen z powiek
  • spędzać sen z powiekTranslations
  • spędzić sen z powiekTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

keep someone up at night. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20someone%20up%20at%20night

MLA

“keep someone up at night.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20someone%20up%20at%20night. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “keep someone up at night,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/keep%20someone%20up%20at%20night.

Source: keep someone up at night on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.