maintenance

[meyn-tuh-nuhns]

noun

1. the act of maintaining.

   the maintenance of proper oral hygiene.

2. the state of being maintained.

   the maintenance of friendly relations with England.

3. care or upkeep, as of machinery or property.

   With proper maintenance the car will last for many years.

4. means of upkeep, support, or subsistence; livelihood.

   to provide a comfortable maintenance.

5. alimony or child support.

6. Law.,  an officious meddling in a suit in which the meddler has no interest, by assisting either party with means to prosecute or defend it.

adjective

1. Pharmacology, Psychiatry.,  administered to sustain a desired physiological or mental condition.

   maintenance dose.

maintenance

/ ˈmeɪntɪnəns /

noun

1. the act of maintaining or the state of being maintained

2. a means of support; livelihood

3. (modifier) of or relating to the maintaining of buildings, machinery, etc

   maintenance man

4. law (formerly unlawful) the interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it, as by providing funds to continue the action See also champerty

5. law a provision ordered to be made by way of periodical payments or a lump sum, as after a divorce for a spouse

6. computing

   1. the correction or prevention of faults in hardware by a programme of inspection and the replacement of parts

   2. the removal of existing faults and the modification of software in response to changes in specification or environment

Other Word Forms

• nonmaintenance noun
• premaintenance noun
• self-maintenance noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of maintenance¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English maintenaunce, from Middle French maintenance; equivalent to maintain + -ance

Word History and Origins

Origin of maintenance¹

C14: from Old French; see _maintain

Example Sentences

There’s also the issue of maintenance and hardware upgrades, which could prove challenging.

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Botterell said trends and variations in demographics, urban planning, workforce development, and infrastructure development and maintenance might be harder to spot in a series of snapshots from a relatively short period.

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The crashed jet was more than 34 years old and had spent more than a month under maintenance in San Antonio, records show.

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The “professional services agreement” between the district and the artists, executed in 2006, states that “the district is responsible for the proper care and maintenance of the Artwork.”

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Student-to-faculty ratios have worsened, and student support programs and faculty salaries have not kept up with university goals — in addition to growing backlogs of deferred campus maintenance.

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Related Words

• care 
• conservation 
• preservation 
• supply 
• upkeep 

When To Use

Spelling tips for maintenance

The word maintenance is hard to spell because it is spelled differently from the way it is pronounced [ meyn-tuh-nuhns ]. How to spell maintenance: To spell maintenance, break it down into three parts: main - ten - ance. The suffix -ance means roughly "action."