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.
There was a “very minor incident” on Monday where one slowly moving train bumped into another inside a maintenance and storage facility, Adams said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
Henry Tufnell, one of the committee's MPs, said SEW was "not doing the basics" in relation to a report which highlighted its lack of routine maintenance.
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026
If you look at the paperwork, you will see — somewhere — that your storage fees are included in the bill for your maintenance.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026
Cheniere Energy, another gas exporter, has said it is considering deferring maintenance at some of its units to produce more supplies.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
Once we’d made it through the narrow tunnel at Camden Street Station, we had to wait for maintenance work to be completed on the train bound for Washington.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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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