keep the ball rolling
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To maintain momentum or progress in a project or activity
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Đảm bảo tiến độ hoặc đà tiến trong một dự án hoặc hoạt động
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to keep a ball moving by rolling it
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The team worked hard to keep the ball rolling on the new marketing campaign
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “keep the ball rolling” mean?
To maintain momentum or progress in a project or activity Literally: to keep a ball moving by rolling it
Is “keep the ball rolling” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.