maintenance
Usage
What are other ways to say maintenance?
Generally, maintenance refers to care or upkeep, as of machinery or property. But sometimes, maintenance refers to what is spent for the living of another: to provide for the maintenance or support of someone. Maintenance occasionally refers to the allowance itself provided for livelihood: They are entitled to a maintenance from this estate. Living and livelihood (a somewhat more formal word), both refer to what one earns to keep (oneself) alive, but are seldom interchangeable within the same phrase: to earn one's living; to threaten one's livelihood. “To make a living” suggests making just enough to keep alive, and is particularly frequent in the negative: You cannot make a living out of that. “To make a livelihood out of something” suggests rather making a business of it: to make a livelihood out of knitting hats.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Maintenance concerns have also surfaced, including a leak earlier this month that forced part of the building to close temporarily after a painting was damaged.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026
HBO’s much-acclaimed High Maintenance started off as a Vimeo-exclusive web series.
From Slate • Jan. 23, 2026
Johnson's government then changed course after its 2019 manifesto commitment and managed to recruit an extra 20,000 officers by 2023 under a police uplift programme, now known as the Officer Maintenance Grant.
From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026
Maintenance is also “impractical,” they noted, which will likely mean satellites will need better, more expensive hardware to make data centers viable.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 15, 2025
“I requested somebody from Magical Maintenance to sort out my office, Cattermole. It’s still raining in there.”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Vocabulary lists containing maintenance
Freak the Mighty
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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