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.
The work addressed leaks, aging infrastructure and other maintenance issues at the historic site.
From Salon • May 31, 2026
The results showed that sleep deprivation disrupted the maintenance of synaptic plasticity in the CA2 region.
From Science Daily • May 30, 2026
BMW has also used a Boston Dynamics Spot robot, which is shaped like a dog, as a maintenance watchdog.
From BBC • May 28, 2026
This includes documents related to facility inspections, compliance history, maintenance logs, staffing levels and emergency protocols.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
He gave one of the armorers a lecture about the importance of good maintenance.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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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