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Synonyms

maintain

American

[mayn-tayn] / meɪnˈteɪn /

verb (used with object)

to keep in existence or continuance; preserve; retain.

to maintain good relations with neighboring countries.

Synonyms:

keep up, continue

Antonyms:

discontinue
to keep in an appropriate condition, operation, or force; keep unimpaired.

to maintain order; to maintain public highways.

Synonyms:

keep up
to keep in a specified state, position, etc..

to maintain a correct posture; to maintain good health.
to affirm; assert; declare.

He maintained that the country was going downhill.

Synonyms:

asseverate
to support in speech or argument, as a statement or proposition.

Synonyms:

justify, vindicate, defend, uphold

Antonyms:

contradict
to keep or hold against attack.

to maintain one's ground.
to provide for the upkeep or support of; carry the expenses of.

to maintain a family.
to sustain or support.

not enough water to maintain life.

maintain British

/ meɪnˈteɪn /

verb

to continue or retain; keep in existence
to keep in proper or good condition

to maintain a building
to support a style of living

the money maintained us for a month
(takes a clause as object) to state or assert

he maintained that Talbot was wrong
to defend against contradiction; uphold

she maintained her innocence
to defend against physical attack

"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

Usage

What are other ways to say maintain? To maintain something is to keep it in existence, or to preserve it. How does maintain compare to the synonyms support, sustain, and uphold? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.

Synonym Usage

Maintain, assert, aver, allege, hold, state all mean to express an opinion, judgment, or position. Maintain carries the implications of both firmness and persistence in declaring or supporting a conviction: She maintained her client's innocence even in the face of damaging evidence. Assert suggests assurance, confidence, and sometimes aggressiveness in the effort to persuade others to agree with or accept one's position: He asserted again and again the government's right to control the waterway. Aver, like assert, implies confident declaration and sometimes suggests a firmly positive or peremptory tone; in legal use aver means “to allege as fact”: to aver that the evidence is incontrovertible. Allege indicates a statement without evidence to support it, and thus can imply doubt as to the validity or accuracy of an assertion: The official is alleged to have been unaware of the crime. Hold means simply to have or express a conviction or belief: We hold these truths to be self-evident; She held that her rights had been violated. State usually suggests a declaration that is forthright and unambiguous: He stated his reasons in clear, simple language.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of maintain

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English mainteinen from Old French maintenir, ultimately from Medieval Latin manūtenēre, Latin manū tenēre literally, “to hold in hand,” equivalent to manū, ablative of manus “hand” + tenēre “to hold”; see manual, tenet

Explanation

Maintain means to keep the same––keep steady, keep up, or keep going. Sure, you can ride your bike super fast on a flat surface, but it can be hard to maintain that speed, or keep the same speed, going up a hill. When you maintain a strict study schedule, you stick to it. When you maintain your car in good working order, you take good care of it. If you maintain records of your business activity, it means you make notes of your sales and expenses. If a teacher maintains order in the classroom, she never lets disruptions get out of hand. If you maintain your family, you keep them in food, shelter and clothing. If you maintain that eating animals is cruel, you keep that position.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

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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.

See Examples For:

maintain maintains maintained maintaining

Canada’s funding contains conditions, including that Cohere create 1,000 new jobs and maintain its headquarters in the country.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Americans had to drawn down some of their savings to maintain their spending habits.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

The team used specialized piston-cylinder and cubic presses to maintain these extreme conditions.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026

To maintain those budgets in 2030 would means finding tens of billions of pounds.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

And even though the deck is stacked against him, he fights to maintain his innocence.

From "Fast Pitch" by Nic Stone

Even now, he maintains the fitness regime he had during his time at the 49ers, just in case an unlikely opportunity to resume his NFL career arises.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

If Cederburg maintains this strategy for 25 years, he’ll have $250,000 in principal, plus growth that equals the inflation rate.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

Greenpeace Brazil said the election “is a win for democracy and maintains the commitment to protecting the Amazon and fighting climate change.”

From Salon ● Oct. 27, 2026

Holmes, meanwhile, maintains that money has never been her primary motivation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026

The Christian Union has bought and maintains new evangelical student centers at Brown, Princeton, and Cornell, and has plans to establish a center on every Ivy League campus.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Salinas has always maintained that he won legally.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Frimpong emphasized that her ruling was not a final determination that the government maintained an unlawful policy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

The bank maintained its 12-month price target of $154.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

In Athens, 17-year-old Greek school pupil Yiannis Papanikolaou told AFP: "School buildings are terrible and poorly maintained… I think something might change, because of what France is doing, France will spur Greece."

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

She maintained far more control of her wealth and affairs than any woman Nhamo knew.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Tracy Woo, a principal analyst at Forrester, said Alphabet's disappointing search business results "highlights the challenge of funding massive AI investments while maintaining the strength of established businesses."

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

"Against a complex geopolitical and operating environment, we are focused on delivery while maintaining a steadfast focus on quality," chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a statement.

From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026

Treatment typically focuses on reducing symptoms and maintaining mobility.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026

We want the intimacy of a home without necessarily inheriting all the obligations of maintaining one.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

Slany apparently taught Tisquantum English while maintaining him as a curiosity in his townhouse.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023