- present tense form of sustain (3rd person singular).
sustains
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.
“You can only find it in King’s Landing. It sustains itself on the waste of other creatures. It’s beautiful.”
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Orator William M. Evarts declared: “I tell you that when the statue of Washington sustains in its firm hand the splintered flag-staff of Fort Sumter, it means something.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Once authorized, the facility will be allowed to load nuclear fuel and begin start-up testing to achieve first criticality—the point at which a reactor sustains a controlled nuclear chain reaction.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
“We are bound to this thing… It sustains us.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
But this fact sustains me only in the way that, say, the prospect of heaven cheers a terminally ill person: it’s nice to know, but it isn’t much help from moment to moment.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
