sustain
to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure.
to bear (a burden, charge, etc.).
to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.
to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction.
to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.
to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life.
to provide for (an institution or the like) by furnishing means or funds.
to support (a cause or the like) by aid or approval.
to uphold as valid, just, or correct, as a claim or the person making it: The judge sustained the lawyer's objection.
to confirm or corroborate, as a statement: Further investigation sustained my suspicions.
Origin of sustain
1Other words for sustain
Other words from sustain
- sus·tain·a·ble, adjective
- sus·tain·ing·ly, adverb
- sus·tain·ment, noun
- non·sus·tain·ing, adjective
- un·sus·tain·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use sustain in a sentence
It looks coral in a way, like a living, breathing self-sustaining organism that belongs at the bottom of the ocean.
Even those who favored a stimulus questioned whether the national budget could sustain such a generous and ongoing obligation to veterans.
Veterans Day is a time to consider how to reward front-line covid-19 workers | James Grossman, Laura McEnaney | November 11, 2020 | Washington PostThe Terps sustained that progress a week later in their stunning win at Penn State, and now their ability will be tested in a difficult matchup Saturday against No.
Taulia Tagovailoa responded after a rough opener and now Maryland’s offense is rolling | Emily Giambalvo | November 11, 2020 | Washington PostWe’re clear-eyed at how hard this is going to be to sustain through the fall and the winter.
New York’s block-by-block lockdowns are curbing covid-19. But residents aren’t pleased. | Ben Guarino | November 8, 2020 | Washington PostThat makes America a precious example to the world that electoral democracy can be self-sustaining — that it isn’t just a blip in the long journey of humankind’s evolution.
Where the force generating those threats is a widespread, self-sustaining, and virulent social movement?
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide Journalism | Arthur Chu | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTIn fact, he said, it should give her caregivers all the more reason to consider withdrawal of life-sustaining fluids.
U.K. Courts Grant Mother Right to End Her 12-Year-Old Disabled Daughter’s Life | Elizabeth Picciuto | November 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWe meet a worker named Joan, who tries to escape but is dragged back in after sustaining a gory walker bite on her arm.
The Walking Dead’s ‘Slabtown’: The Real Source of Terror Isn’t Walkers, It’s Rape | Melissa Leon | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNamely, he tried to fall on his sword without losing blood, sustaining a wound or suffering any pain.
Roger Goodell’s TV Disaster Shows What’s Wrong With The NFL | Lloyd Grove | September 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThey have a novelistic drive to them in which all of that research is integrated in a powerful and sustaining way.
‘The Power Broker’ Turns 40: How Robert Caro Wrote a Masterpiece | Scott Porch | September 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTShe habitually ate chocolates for their sustaining quality; they contained much nutriment in small compass, she said.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinAs sustaining the character of enemies unto him, they are represented to have said unto God, "Depart from us."
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John CunninghamYes, there was another sustaining possibility, and of a more poetic nature.
Overland | John William De ForestNo man on earth is truly interested in sustaining error; sooner or later it is compelled to surrender to truth.
Superstition In All Ages (1732) | Jean MeslierThey were very polite and kind to her, sustaining a conversation devised and elaborated for her diversion.
The Creators | May Sinclair
British Dictionary definitions for sustain
/ (səˈsteɪn) /
to hold up under; withstand: to sustain great provocation
to undergo (an injury, loss, etc); suffer: to sustain a broken arm
to maintain or prolong: to sustain a discussion
to support physically from below
to provide for or give support to, esp by supplying necessities: to sustain one's family; to sustain a charity
to keep up the vitality or courage of
to uphold or affirm the justice or validity of: to sustain a decision
to establish the truth of; confirm
music the prolongation of a note, by playing technique or electronics
Origin of sustain
1Derived forms of sustain
- sustained, adjective
- sustainedly (səˈsteɪnɪdlɪ), adverb
- sustaining, adjective
- sustainingly, adverb
- sustainment, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse