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.
Kaabi explained Barzan's production had been stopped since December 2025 for maintenance and was first restarted again two days prior to the explosion.
From Barron's • Jun. 22, 2026
Those fees often partly cover homeowners’ maintenance and insurance costs, so they are being driven up by higher costs of labor and materials as well as a changing insurance market.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 21, 2026
In an effort combat the algae in the Reflecting Pool, employees of the National Park Service were seen pouring in gallons of hydrogen peroxide, a chemical commonly used in pool maintenance.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2026
The third is physical infrastructure, including the necessary land, buildings, structural support, backup power, water systems, communication networks and maintenance access.
From Science Daily • Jun. 19, 2026
It was, she thought, like refusing to hand over maintenance records at the sale of a secondhand car.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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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