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.
She said the company strives to have a strong maintenance and inspection program and still was performing post-fire examinations and testing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Initially, Minnesota did share some information when the DOJ asked, mostly relating to maintenance of its voter rolls, which is congressionally mandated.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
The work will be displayed from Friday at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka while its home museum, the Mauritshuis in The Hague, closes until September 20 for maintenance.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Visit KBB’s Car Maintenance and Repair Information Center for curated articles to help you make smart maintenance decisions with confidence.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Next to the culvert, a dusty maintenance yard ran all the way back into the shadows under the four-lane bridge.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
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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