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.
Cuba's electricity generation is sustained by a network of eight aging thermoelectric plants -- some in operation for over 40 years -- that suffer frequent breakdowns or must be shut down for maintenance cycles.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
He has served as a board member of e-commerce platform Shopify and invested in numerous other startups, including Fivetran, a provider of automated data-integration technology, and Tractian, an AI-driven industrial maintenance and monitoring startup.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
Participants largely maintained their higher activity levels throughout the maintenance phase, averaging 8,241 steps per day by the end of the studies.
From Science Daily • May 11, 2026
Construction, maintenance and shipping businesses have sprung up, along with secondary businesses that support the industry.
From Salon • May 9, 2026
He was locked into a maintenance role: He was a custodian for the system who was unlikely to overturn the previous judgment, even if there was compelling evidence of innocence.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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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