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Glite Dictionary
to keep one's cool

to keep one's cool

1 3.4
Stay calm and control your feelings when things are hard
  • idiom
  • Informal
: mantener la calma
  • During the emergency situation, she managed to keep her cool and guide everyone to safety.
  • keep a cool head
  • just keep your cool
  • manage to keep your cool

Examples

  • So keep your cool, over-communicate and take your time.

    Stowaway (2021)

  • If he learned to keep his cool, they'd leave him alone.

    Never Let Me Go (2010)

  • If I tell you, will you keep your cool?

    The Matador (2005)

  • You gotta keep your cool, Ray.

    Finding Steve McQueen (2019)

  • Way to keep your cool.

    Man on a Ledge (2012)

  • Well, if you keep your cool and try not to freak out, it's amazing what you can do.

    Doogal (2006)

  • Do you have any tips for keeping your cool and reducing your stress levels?

    Blog text (1)

  • "You have to be relative, you have to keep your cool," he said on France-2 television.

    Blog text (8)

  • But traffic control promises that if you all keep cool, they'll get you home in time for Christmas.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Look, Owen's going to be lobbing you all kinds of crazy, but you gotta keep your cool.

    Blood Stains (2018)

Synonyms

to play it cool
vsto keep one's cool
  • Informal
32 4.5

Act calm and relaxed to hide nervousness

is about genuine emotional control rather than performing calmness for effect
to keep it together
vsto keep one's cool
  • Informal
32 5.4

To stay calm and control your feelings in a difficult situation

focuses more on inner calm and self control than visible composure
to hold it together
vsto keep one's cool
  • Informal
26 5.6

Stay calm and control your feelings in a difficult situation

is about emotional control rather than only continuing tasks under stress
to take in stride
vsto keep one's cool
  • Informal
18 5.0

Deal with a problem calmly without getting upset

focuses on maintaining emotional balance rather than simply handling events
to stay in control
vsto keep one's cool
  • US
6 3.7

Keep power over a situation and stay calm

is about maintaining emotional calm rather than retaining authority over situations
to keep a cool head
vsto keep one's cool
3 3.9

Stay calm and not get angry or excited in a difficult situation

focuses broadly on overall emotional control rather than only avoiding anger
to keep one's temper
vsto keep one's cool
1 4.4

Stay calm and not get angry in a difficult situation

covers calm control of all emotions rather than only avoiding anger
to keep one's head
vsto keep one's cool
1 4.6

Stay calm and think clearly in a difficult or dangerous situation

is about controlling feelings more than clear thinking under pressure
to hold one's nerve
vsto keep one's cool
  • Informal
5.5

To stay calm and in control during a difficult situation

is the same meaning but expressed using different wording

Antonyms

to panic
381 2.3

To feel sudden fear and lose the ability to think or act calmly

to lose it
  • Informal
326 7.5

Suddenly stop controlling your feelings and become very angry or upset

How Calm

to play it cool
  • Informal
32 4.5
to keep one's cool
  • Informal
1 3.4
annoyed
143 1.0

Surface Forms

keep one's cool infinitive
keeping one's cool present participle
keeps one's cool third person singular
kept one's cool past
kept one's cool past participle

Morphology

keep + one + cool

The meaning 'to remain calm' is directly derivable from combining 'keep' (to retain or maintain) with 'one's' (possessive) and 'cool' (calm). This follows the common English pattern 'keep + [state]' meaning 'maintain a state' and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.

Etymology

The idiom keep one's cool comes from a simple picture: imagine anger as heat, and to keep your cool is to stay cool instead of getting 'hot' and angry. So it means 'to remain calm' when things are difficult.