Gatekeep

//ˈɡeɪt.kiːp// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A gatekeeper.

    "Similar remarks had passed the cherry-stained lips a hundred times, and this one was brought on just after the gatekeep at the north postern of Bull Joy had slyly given the wink behind "her husband's" broad back."

Verb
  1. 1
    To control or limit access to something.
  2. 2
    To limit (sometimes manipulatively, rather than directly) how much of a role another party, often a spouse, has in some task.
  3. 3
    To limit another party's participation in a collective identity or an activity, usually due to undue pettiness, resentment, or overprotectiveness. broadly

Example

More examples

"Similar remarks had passed the cherry-stained lips a hundred times, and this one was brought on just after the gatekeep at the north postern of Bull Joy had slyly given the wink behind "her husband's" broad back."

Etymology

From gate + keep, as back-formation from gatekeeper.

Related phrases

gate-keepy

More for "gatekeep"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.