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.
The parts market is now in what Advance Auto considers a “shoulder period” between tax refunds and peak summer driving, making it difficult to gauge how much of consumers’ budgets will go to car maintenance.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
The woman's daughter-in-law, visibly shaken as she spoke, said there were no cones, warning signs, or barriers around the maintenance hole.
From BBC • May 20, 2026
A pelican, with an oversized bucket-like beak, was in need of last-minute maintenance.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
The move wouldn’t be the first attempt to impose fees on EV drivers for road maintenance.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
On Saturdays he cleaned the pool and did garden maintenance.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
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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