Link Centre Dictionary

maintenance

main·te·nance

UK/ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/ US/ˈmeɪntnʌns/ fairly common uk

noun

1.

activity involved in maintaining something in good working order

  • “he wrote the manual on car care”
Synonyms
2.
3.

court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated

Synonyms
4.

the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence

  • “they were in want of sustenance”
  • “fishing was their main sustainment”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (“to hold in the hand”). By surface analysis, maintain + -ance. Note that maintain has undergone a sound and spelling change, hence is spelt with -tain-, rather than the -ten- still found in maintenance.

Phrases

  • cap of maintenance
  • data maintenance
  • facilities maintenance
  • facility maintenance
  • health maintenance organization
  • maintenance hole
  • maintenance margin
  • maintenance medicine

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.