sustentation
Americannoun
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maintenance in being or activity; the sustaining of life through vital processes.
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provision with means or funds for upkeep.
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means of sustaining life; sustenance.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sustentation
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin sustentātiōn- (stem of sustentātiō ) an upholding, equivalent to sustentāt ( us ) (past participle of sustentāre, frequentative of sustinēre to sustain ) + -iōn- -ion
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.
Soon Premier Mussolini ascended this mighty sustentation, planted himself on an imperial-seeming musnud.
From Time Magazine Archive
The prolonged, delicate, exquisite sustentation of the pictorial tone seems to me a marvel of ingenuity and fancy.
From Views and Reviews by Henry James
He founded a goodlie hospitall in the citie of Yorke, called S. Leonards, for the sustentation and finding of the poore as well brethren as sisters.
From Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (2 of 12) William Rufus by Raphael Holinshed
We regard it as another law, that the distribution of the sustentation money entrusted to the Church should be a distribution, not discretionary, but fixed by definite enactment.
From Leading Articles on Various Subjects by John Davidson
And so all things appertaining to the sustentation of man, in triple and more exceeded their accustomed prices.
From Mary Queen of Scots 1542-1587 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
