Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

keep one's counsel

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.95 in modern English

Syllables: keep- one's -coun-sel
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

4

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

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.

verb

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.

Example Sentences

"As he held his mother to him, he longed to tell her all, but he kept his counsel."
"[Ruhollah] Khomeini's approach to decision making is to keep his counsel at first, allowing the advocates of different options to debate issues openly."
"Standish will keep our counsel, and the news will be old before it's known."

Inflected Forms

keeps one's counsel (present, singular) keeping one's counsel (participle, present) kept one's counsel (participle, past) kept one's counsel (past)

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

Questions

What does keep one's counsel mean?: 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.

How to pronounce keep one's counsel

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