keep the peace
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Maintain harmony and avoid conflict
Literally: retain tranquility
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Most obvious was the breakdown in US - Soviet relations and the failure of the UN to keep the peace.
Stephen Gill, of Mount Parade, Harrogate, agreed to be bound over to keep the peace after David Bradshaw, prosecuting at York Crown Court, offered no evidence.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
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 peace” mean?
Maintain harmony and avoid conflict Literally: retain tranquility
Is “keep the peace” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.