keep the ball rolling
Maintain the progress
To keep the ball rolling is to maintain momentum or prevent an activity from stalling: Let's keep the ball rolling with another round of questions.
The image is of a ball that must stay in motion—once stopped, it requires fresh effort to restart.
Often used when transitioning between speakers or phases of a project.
- promoteRaise in rank
- keep onContinue doing something
- continueGo on without stopping
- sustainKeep something going continuously
- go onContinue doing something
stay on track · maintain · advance · proceed · further · persistence · momentum · gain traction · pick up steam · flow · run · progress · on a roll · resilience · action · in motion · teamwork · synergy
- momentumbuilding momentum, gain traction, gaining traction, gaining steam, gather steam
- perseverancepersist, never give up, tenacity, hang in there, endurance
- progressprogress, in progress, promotion, raise, making progress
keep the ball rollingstop dead
Halt suddenly and completely
grind to a halt · bring to a halt · put the brakes on · hit a wall · stall
keep the ball rollingdrop the ball
Fail at a critical moment
abandon ship · give up · throw in the towel · walk away · check out
keep the ball rollingdo nothing
Remain inactive deliberately
sit on one's hands · rest on one's laurels · drag one's feet · procrastinate · stagnate
keeper, keepers, keeping, balled, balling, rolled, rolling, roller, rollers