Definitions for maintain
meɪnˈteɪnmain·tain

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. keep, maintain, holdverb

   keep in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., "keep clean"

   "hold in place"; "She always held herself as a lady"; "The students keep me on my toes"

2. conserve, preserve, maintain, keep upverb

   keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction

   "We preserve these archeological findings"; "The old lady could not keep up the building"; "children must be taught to conserve our national heritage"; "The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts"

3. sustain, keep, maintainverb

   supply with necessities and support

   "She alone sustained her family"; "The money will sustain our good cause"; "There's little to earn and many to keep"

4. assert, asseverate, maintainverb

   state categorically

5. wield, exert, maintainverb

   have and exercise

   "wield power and authority"

6. keep, maintainverb

   maintain for use and service

   "I keep a car in the countryside"; "She keeps an apartment in Paris for her shopping trips"

7. keep, maintainverb

   maintain by writing regular records

   "keep a diary"; "maintain a record"; "keep notes"

8. maintain, defendverb

   state or assert

   "He maintained his innocence"

9. uphold, maintainverb

   support against an opponent

   "The appellate court upheld the verdict"

10. observe, keep, maintainverb

    stick to correctly or closely

    "The pianist kept time with the metronome"; "keep count"; "I cannot keep track of all my employees"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. maintainverb

   To support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action.

2. maintainverb

   To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.).

3. maintainverb

   To declare or affirm (a clause) to be true; to assert.

4. Etymology: From maintenir, maintenir, from manutenere, from manu + tenere.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To MAINTAINverb

   Etymology: maintenir, French.

   1. To preserve; to keep.

   The ingredients being prescribed in their substance, maintain the blood in a gentle fermentation, reclude oppilations, and mundify it. Gideon Harvey.

   This place, these pledges of your love, maintain. Dryd.

   2. To defend; to hold out; to make good.

   God values no man more or less, in placing him high or low, but every one as he maintains his post. Nehemiah Grew, Cosmol.

   3. To vindicate; to justify.

   If any man of quality will maintain upon Edward earl of Glo’ster, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear. William Shakespeare.

   These possessions being unlawfully gotten, could not be maintained by the just and honourable law of England. Davies.

   Maintain
   My right, nor think the name of mother vain. Dryden.

   Lord Roberts was full of contradiction in his temper, and of parts so much superior to any in the company, that he could too well maintain and justify those contradictions. Edward Hyde.

   It is hard to maintain the truth. South.

   4. To continue; to keep up.

   Maintain talk with the duke, that my charity be not of him perceived. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

   Some did the song, and some the choir maintain,
   Beneath a laurel shade. Dryden.

   5. To keep up; to support the expence of.

   I seek not to wax great by others waining;
   Sufficeth, that I have maintains my state,
   And sends the poor well pleased from my gate. William Shakespeare.

   What concerns it you if I wear pearl and gold? I thank my good father I am able to maintain it. William Shakespeare.

   6. To support with the conveniences of life.

   It was St. Paul’s choice to maintain himself by his own labour. Richard Hooker.

   If a woman maintain her husband, she is full of anger and much reproach. Ecclus. xxv. 22.

   It is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to be maintained by it. Could it ever yet feed, cloath, or defend its assertors? South.

   7. To preserve from failure.

   Here ten thousand images remain
   Without confusion, and their rank maintain. Richard Blackmore.

2. To Maintainverb

   To support by argument; to assert as a tenet.

   In tragedy and satire I maintain against some of our modern criticks, that this age and the last have excelled the ancients. John Dryden, Juvenal.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. maintain

   The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installations. Over time, this has come to include multiple wordings that describe various cost-effective practices to keep equipment operational; these activities occur either before or after a failure.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. maintain

   To maintain is to keep something in an existing or proper state or condition, to continue or preserve something without interruption or change, or to provide necessary support or care for something or someone. It can also refer to the act of asserting or upholding something as true or valid.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Maintainverb

   to hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain a fence or a railroad; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present reputation

2. Maintainverb

   to keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish

3. Maintainverb

   to continue; not to suffer to cease or fail

4. Maintainverb

   to bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed

5. Maintainverb

   to affirm; to support or defend by argument

Military Dictionary and GazetteerRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. maintain

   When any body of men defend a place or post against the attacks of an adverse party, they are said to maintain it.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. maintain

   To ensure an optimum level.

   They manage to maintain their love by always cuddling, speaking, touching, exercising and connecting with their families.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on April 27, 2020  

2. ---

   maintain

   To ensure.

   They did maintain peace easily in their country as everyone chooses it.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on April 5, 2020  

3. ---

   maintain

   To keep a house, property, form of housing, vehicle, thing, item, business, company, enterprise, organization or form of unity government clean, neat, tidy and functioning at an optimum level.

   We all have to maintain what we have and ensure it continues to function at an optimum level.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on December 26, 2019  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. maintain

   Song lyrics by maintain -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by maintain on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Affirm
   • Confirm
   • Have
   • Hold
   • Insist
   • Record

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'maintain' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1897

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'maintain' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2774

3. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'maintain' in Verbs Frequency: #181

Anagrams for maintain »

1. amanitin

How to pronounce maintain?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say maintain in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of maintain in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of maintain in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of maintain in a Sentence

1. Marie Antoinette:

   It is the nature of human beings, and especially of the mediocre ones, to wish to change everything. They desire it all the more because they know popularity will accrue rather to those who disturb than to those who maintain order.

2. Vadym Prystaiko:

   Ukraine has always been proud of the support from both sides in the Congress, and we would like to maintain this support, believe me, the last thing we want is getting involved in an issue on the other side of the world when we need to figure how to deal with the war with our French and German colleagues.

3. James Mattis:

   Lack of respect for the dignity and humanity of fellow members of the Department of Defense is unacceptable and counter to unit cohesion, we will not excuse or tolerate such behavior if we are to uphold our values and maintain our ability to defeat the enemy on the battlefield.

4. Greg Abbott:

   The State of Texas has a duty to voters to maintain the integrity of our elections, as we work to preserve Texans' ability to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic, we must take extra care to strengthen ballot security protocols throughout the state. These enhanced security protocols will ensure greater transparency and will help stop attempts at illegal voting.

5. Roosh Valizadeh:

   Men with good social circles aren't conscious of the effort they put in to maintain them (although they may be conscious of the value they give).

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=maintain
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Maintain
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=maintain
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maintain
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maintain
7. ^ Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/59563/pg59563-images.html