"keep up with the Joneses" meaning in English

See keep up with the Joneses in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-keep up with the Joneses.ogg Forms: keeps up with the Joneses [present, singular, third-person], keeping up with the Joneses [participle, present], kept up with the Joneses [participle, past], kept up with the Joneses [past]
Etymology: Various theories; see Wikipedia article. Head templates: {{en-verb|keep<,,kept> up with the Joneses}} keep up with the Joneses (third-person singular simple present keeps up with the Joneses, present participle keeping up with the Joneses, simple past and past participle kept up with the Joneses)
  1. (idiomatic) To act or make purchases for status or image rather than out of need, especially for the purpose of competing with friends, neighbors, or society. Wikipedia link: Keeping up with the Joneses Tags: idiomatic Related terms: conspicuous consumption, peer pressure, status symbol Translations (act or make purchases for status or image): 爭相攀比 (Chinese Mandarin), 争相攀比 (zhēngxiāng pānbǐ) (Chinese Mandarin), 互相攀比 (hùxiāng pānbǐ) (Chinese Mandarin), olla mukana elintasokilpailussa (Finnish), (Tày), so bì (Vietnamese)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Various theories; see Wikipedia article.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> up with the Joneses"
      },
      "expansion": "keep up with the Joneses (third-person singular simple present keeps up with the Joneses, present participle keeping up with the Joneses, simple past and past participle kept up with the Joneses)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Tày translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Do you really need a fancy new car or are you just trying to keep up with the Joneses?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1938, William F. Bigelow, editor, The Good Housekeeping Marriage Book, page 74:",
          "text": "One of the greatest pitfalls in the path of any young couple is the feeling that they must \"keep up with the Joneses.\" We all think of ourselves as belonging to a certain social group—whether we express it in snobbish terms or not.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1962 February, “Talking of Trains: Signalmen's rewards”, in Modern Railways, page 82:",
          "text": "Nor is it good for the name of the railway industry that skilled men should have to put in so much overtime to keep up financially with the Joneses in other walks of life.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act or make purchases for status or image rather than out of need, especially for the purpose of competing with friends, neighbors, or society."
      ],
      "id": "en-keep_up_with_the_Joneses-en-verb-n7pz5Aqg",
      "links": [
        [
          "purchase",
          "purchase"
        ],
        [
          "status",
          "status"
        ],
        [
          "image",
          "image"
        ],
        [
          "need",
          "need"
        ],
        [
          "competing",
          "compete"
        ],
        [
          "neighbor",
          "neighbor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To act or make purchases for status or image rather than out of need, especially for the purpose of competing with friends, neighbors, or society."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "conspicuous consumption"
        },
        {
          "word": "peer pressure"
        },
        {
          "word": "status symbol"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
          "word": "爭相攀比"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "zhēngxiāng pānbǐ",
          "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
          "word": "争相攀比"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "hùxiāng pānbǐ",
          "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
          "word": "互相攀比"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
          "word": "olla mukana elintasokilpailussa"
        },
        {
          "code": "tyz",
          "lang": "Tày",
          "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
          "word": "bì"
        },
        {
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
          "word": "so bì"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Keeping up with the Joneses"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep up with the Joneses.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/07/En-au-keep_up_with_the_Joneses.ogg/En-au-keep_up_with_the_Joneses.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/En-au-keep_up_with_the_Joneses.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep up with the Joneses"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Various theories; see Wikipedia article.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "keeps up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "keeping up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kept up with the Joneses",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "keep<,,kept> up with the Joneses"
      },
      "expansion": "keep up with the Joneses (third-person singular simple present keeps up with the Joneses, present participle keeping up with the Joneses, simple past and past participle kept up with the Joneses)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "conspicuous consumption"
    },
    {
      "word": "peer pressure"
    },
    {
      "word": "status symbol"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English eponyms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Mandarin terms with non-redundant manual transliterations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Tày translations",
        "Terms with Vietnamese translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Do you really need a fancy new car or are you just trying to keep up with the Joneses?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1938, William F. Bigelow, editor, The Good Housekeeping Marriage Book, page 74:",
          "text": "One of the greatest pitfalls in the path of any young couple is the feeling that they must \"keep up with the Joneses.\" We all think of ourselves as belonging to a certain social group—whether we express it in snobbish terms or not.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1962 February, “Talking of Trains: Signalmen's rewards”, in Modern Railways, page 82:",
          "text": "Nor is it good for the name of the railway industry that skilled men should have to put in so much overtime to keep up financially with the Joneses in other walks of life.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act or make purchases for status or image rather than out of need, especially for the purpose of competing with friends, neighbors, or society."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "purchase",
          "purchase"
        ],
        [
          "status",
          "status"
        ],
        [
          "image",
          "image"
        ],
        [
          "need",
          "need"
        ],
        [
          "competing",
          "compete"
        ],
        [
          "neighbor",
          "neighbor"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To act or make purchases for status or image rather than out of need, especially for the purpose of competing with friends, neighbors, or society."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Keeping up with the Joneses"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-keep up with the Joneses.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/07/En-au-keep_up_with_the_Joneses.ogg/En-au-keep_up_with_the_Joneses.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/En-au-keep_up_with_the_Joneses.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
      "word": "爭相攀比"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "zhēngxiāng pānbǐ",
      "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
      "word": "争相攀比"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "hùxiāng pānbǐ",
      "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
      "word": "互相攀比"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
      "word": "olla mukana elintasokilpailussa"
    },
    {
      "code": "tyz",
      "lang": "Tày",
      "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
      "word": "bì"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "act or make purchases for status or image",
      "word": "so bì"
    }
  ],
  "word": "keep up with the Joneses"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). 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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