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CARRY ON
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Continue talking
Example:
carry on--pretend we are not in the room
Synonyms:
carry on; continue; go on; proceed
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "carry on" is one way to...):
speak; talk (exchange thoughts; talk with)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carry on"):
segue (proceed without interruption; in music or talk)
jog; ramble; ramble on (continue talking or writing in a desultory manner)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s VERB-ing
Sense 2
Meaning:
Direct the course of; manage or control
Example:
You cannot conduct business like this
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "carry on" is one way to...):
care; deal; handle; manage (be in charge of, act on, or dispose of)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carry on"):
racketeer (carry on illegal business activities involving crime)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Misbehave badly; act in a silly or improper way
Example:
The children acted up when they were not bored
Synonyms:
act up; carry on
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "carry on" is one way to...):
misbehave; misconduct; misdemean (behave badly)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 4
Meaning:
Keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last
Example:
Carry on the old traditions
Synonyms:
bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold
Classified under:
Verbs of being, having, spatial relations
Hypernyms (to "carry on" is one way to...):
hold; keep; maintain (cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean')
Verb group:
continue; go forward; proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)
continue; go along; go on; keep; proceed (continue a certain state, condition, or activity)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "carry on"):
re-start; restart; resume (take up or begin anew)
hang in; hang on; hold on; persevere; persist (be persistent, refuse to stop)
perpetuate (cause to continue or prevail)
keep up; prolong; sustain (lengthen or extend in duration or space)
mummify (preserve while making lifeless)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples:
He was not very wise, but very good-natured, and altogether an excellent person to carry on a picnic.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
It was no larger than a hall bedroom in Grub Street, and yet twelve men were herded into it to eat and sleep and carry on all the functions of living.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I think we will carry on fighting, because I feel it is our duty to do so, But I think we should set the EU limit at 3 volts/metre.
(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)
Class IV: inability to carry on any physical activity without discomfort.
(New York Heart Association Class, NCI Thesaurus)
We need to carry on cooking chicken well and never to alternately handle raw meat and salad.
(Wash your hands or else spread superbug E. coli, say scientists, Wikinews)
An organization formed with state governmental approval to act as an artificial person to carry on business (or other activities), which can sue or be sued, and (unless it is non-profit) can issue shares of stock to raise funds with which to start a business or increase its cap
(Corporation, NCI Thesaurus)
I was about to propound a question, touching the manner in which that operation of changing my heart was to be performed, when Mrs. Reed interposed, telling me to sit down; she then proceeded to carry on the conversation herself.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
For instance, when I am at home, and dressed as I ought to be, I carry on my body the workmanship of a hundred tradesmen; the building and furniture of my house employ as many more, and five times the number to adorn my wife.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
She was all alive again directly, and among the most active in being useful to Fanny, in detecting her to be wetter than she would at first allow, and providing her with dry clothes; and Fanny, after being obliged to submit to all this attention, and to being assisted and waited on by mistresses and maids, being also obliged, on returning downstairs, to be fixed in their drawing-room for an hour while the rain continued, the blessing of something fresh to see and think of was thus extended to Miss Crawford, and might carry on her spirits to the period of dressing and dinner.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Cannot carry on any selfcare.
(ECOG Performance Status 4, NCI Thesaurus)
