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.
They make for an amusing odd couple entering the inner sanctums of the uber-wealthy in the New York metro area, often asked to do extra maintenance tasks.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Friday that Canberra was seeking "the maintenance of the global rules-based order" in the region.
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
If it works in people, it could become more like a maintenance therapy, repeated at intervals to keep the eye's protective systems active.
From Science Daily • May 27, 2026
As a child and in college you had jobs ranging from detasseling corn to maintenance work and painting houses.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
He gave one of the armorers a lecture about the importance of good maintenance.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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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