maintenance
Usage
What are other ways to say maintenance?
Generally, maintenance refers to care or upkeep, as of machinery or property. But sometimes, maintenance refers to what is spent for the living of another: to provide for the maintenance or support of someone. Maintenance occasionally refers to the allowance itself provided for livelihood: They are entitled to a maintenance from this estate. Living and livelihood (a somewhat more formal word), both refer to what one earns to keep (oneself) alive, but are seldom interchangeable within the same phrase: to earn one's living; to threaten one's livelihood. “To make a living” suggests making just enough to keep alive, and is particularly frequent in the negative: You cannot make a living out of that. “To make a livelihood out of something” suggests rather making a business of it: to make a livelihood out of knitting hats.
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.
Cardiff Rugby academy players stumbled on Christopher's bathtub while carrying out essential maintenance work on the mountain, and helped rangers retrieve it.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
PG&E’s operating expenses fell 3.5% to $4.64 billion as operating and maintenance costs came down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Did your husband contribute to mortgage payments, taxes, insurance or maintenance?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Earlier research has indicated that the molecule may support cellular maintenance mechanisms that become less active with age.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
In the months that followed the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, when other reactors around Japan went offline for maintenance, the government withheld approval for them to reactivate.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Vocabulary lists containing maintenance
Freak the Mighty
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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