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Glite Dictionary
to keep in perspective

to keep in perspective

14 4.3
Think about how important something is compared to other things
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : poner en perspectiva
  • It's important to keep our individual concerns in perspective, so we can focus on the bigger picture.
  • keep in perspective
  • put in perspective

Examples

  • At the same time, this particular statistic needs to be kept in perspective.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The concern that government funding is too limited to have an impact has some merit but should be kept in perspective.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Two recent events have helped put the growth of environmental science and studies programs in perspective.

    Academic text (2005)

  • The whole question, however, needs to be kept in perspective.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Because of both of these, it is hard to keep things in perspective.

    Blog text (4)

  • Good job by the offense to take advantage of it, but things should be kept in perspective.

    Blog text (27)

  • Yoga has also influenced me to keep everything in perspective.

    Academic text (2015)

  • But even though many will be reburied without study, the loss of scientific data needs to be kept in perspective.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Before making a decision, remember to keep the potential risks in perspective compared to the benefits.

  • As we evaluate the project, we must keep our goals in perspective to avoid losing sight of our main objectives.

Synonyms

to put into perspective
vsto keep in perspective
22 4.4

To help someone see how important something really is by comparing it with other things or giving background

judges importance oneself by considering it in relation to everything else

Antonyms

to overlook
243 2.9

To not notice someone or something you should see

to misjudge
6 3.9

To form a wrong idea about someone or something

How Important

value
∞ 1.3
to recognize
  • US
705 1.4
to keep in perspective
14 4.3
to downplay
59 5.3
to dismiss
332 3.0

Surface Forms

keep in perspective infinitive
keeping in perspective present participle
keeps in perspective third person singular
kept in perspective past
kept in perspective past participle

Morphology

keep + in + perspective

The components 'keep' (maintain) + 'in' (within) + 'perspective' (viewpoint) allow a learner to infer the general idea of maintaining a particular viewpoint, so the basic sense is partly derivable from the parts. However, the specific pragmatic meaning — judging an item's true importance by comparing it to other things — is a somewhat metaphorical, relational use and not fully predictable without prior exposure, making it only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Keep in perspective comes from the idea of stepping back to see a whole picture: to keep something in your perspective is like looking from farther away so one small problem does not look huge. So it means to judge the real 'importance' of something by seeing the whole situation.