"keep one's counsel" meaning in English

See keep one's counsel in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: keeps one's counsel [present, singular, third-person], keeping one's counsel [participle, present], kept one's counsel [participle, past], kept one's counsel [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|keep<,,kept> one's counsel}} keep one's counsel (third-person singular simple present keeps one's counsel, present participle keeping one's counsel, simple past and past participle kept one's counsel)
  1. To keep one's own business private; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning one's own deeds, situation, or thoughts. Synonyms: hold one's peace, keep one's cards close to one's chest, keep one's mouth shut, keep one's own counsel, keep counsel
    Sense id: en-keep_one's_counsel-en-verb-AWVW9Guq Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 54 46 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 52 48
  2. To keep a secret for someone else; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning someone else's deeds, situation, or thoughts. Synonyms: keep one's mouth shut
    Sense id: en-keep_one's_counsel-en-verb-3K77ATWf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 54 46 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 52 48

Inflected forms

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps one's counsel",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping one's counsel",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's counsel",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "kept one's counsel",
      "tags": [
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "53 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "54 46",
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        {
          "ref": "1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Contains both Love and War”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 56:",
          "text": "As he held his mother to him, he longed to tell her all, but he kept his counsel.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982 July 26, “Personal Power, Personal Hate”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-04-08:",
          "text": "[Ruhollah] Khomeini's approach to decision making is to keep his counsel at first, allowing the advocates of different options to debate issues openly.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep one's own business private; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning one's own deeds, situation, or thoughts."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_one's_counsel-en-verb-AWVW9Guq",
      "links": [
        [
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        ],
        [
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "careful",
          "careful"
        ],
        [
          "circumspect",
          "circumspect"
        ],
        [
          "discreet",
          "discreet"
        ],
        [
          "deeds",
          "deed#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ],
        [
          "thoughts",
          "thought#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
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          "word": "hold one's peace"
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        {
          "word": "keep one's cards close to one's chest"
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          "word": "keep one's mouth shut"
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        {
          "word": "keep one's own counsel"
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          "text": "Standish will keep our counsel, and the news will be old before it's known.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep a secret for someone else; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning someone else's deeds, situation, or thoughts."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_one's_counsel-en-verb-3K77ATWf",
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  "word": "keep one's counsel"
}
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    "English lemmas",
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    "Pages with 1 entry",
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      "form": "keeps one's counsel",
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    },
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    },
    {
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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        {
          "ref": "1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Contains both Love and War”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 56:",
          "text": "As he held his mother to him, he longed to tell her all, but he kept his counsel.",
          "type": "quote"
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        {
          "ref": "1982 July 26, “Personal Power, Personal Hate”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2008-04-08:",
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        }
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        "To keep one's own business private; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning one's own deeds, situation, or thoughts."
      ],
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          "careful",
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          "circumspect",
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        ],
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          "discreet",
          "discreet"
        ],
        [
          "deeds",
          "deed#Noun"
        ],
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          "situation",
          "situation"
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        [
          "thoughts",
          "thought#Noun"
        ]
      ],
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        {
          "word": "hold one's peace"
        },
        {
          "word": "keep one's cards close to one's chest"
        },
        {
          "word": "keep one's mouth shut"
        },
        {
          "word": "keep one's own counsel"
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          "text": "Standish will keep our counsel, and the news will be old before it's known.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To keep a secret for someone else; to be careful, circumspect, or discreet in what one says concerning someone else's deeds, situation, or thoughts."
      ],
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  "word": "keep one's counsel"
}

Download raw JSONL data for keep one's counsel meaning in English (2.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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