Adjacent Words

Maintain definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MAINTA'IN, v.t. [L. manus and teneo.]
1. To hold, preserve or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present character or reputation.
2. To hold; to keep; not to lose or surrender; as, to maintain a place or post.
3. To continue; not to suffer to cease; as, to maintain a conversation.
4. To keep up; to uphold; to support the expense of; as, to maintain state or equipage.
What maintains one vice would bring up two children.
5. To support with food, clothing and other conveniences; as, to maintain a family by trade or labor.
6. To support by intellectual powers, or by force of reason; as, to maintain an argument.
7. To support; to defend; to vindicate; to justify; to prove to be just; as, to maintain one's right or cause.
8. To support by assertion or argument; to affirm.
In tragedy and satire, I maintain that this age and the last have excelled the ancients.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: 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" [syn: keep, maintain, hold]
2: 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" [syn: conserve, preserve, maintain, keep up]
3: 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" [syn: sustain, keep, maintain]
4: state categorically [syn: assert, asseverate, maintain]
5: have and exercise; "wield power and authority" [syn: wield, exert, maintain]
6: maintain for use and service; "I keep a car in the countryside"; "She keeps an apartment in Paris for her shopping trips" [syn: keep, maintain]
7: maintain by writing regular records; "keep a diary"; "maintain a record"; "keep notes" [syn: keep, maintain]
8: state or assert; "He maintained his innocence" [syn: maintain, defend]
9: support against an opponent; "The appellate court upheld the verdict" [syn: uphold, maintain]
10: stick to correctly or closely; "The pianist kept time with the metronome"; "keep count"; "I cannot keep track of all my employees" [syn: observe, keep, maintain]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English mainteinen, from Anglo-French maintenir, maynteiner, from Medieval Latin manuten?re, from Latin manu ten?re to hold in the hand Date: 14th century 1. to keep in an existing state (as of repair, efficiency, or validity) ; preserve from failure or decline <maintain machinery> 2. to sustain against opposition or danger ; uphold and defend <maintain a position> 3. to continue or persevere in ; carry on, keep up <couldn't maintain his composure> 4. a. to support or provide for <has a family to maintain> b. sustain <enough food to maintain life> 5. to affirm in or as if in argument ; assert <maintained that the earth is flat> • maintainability noun • maintainable adjective • maintainer noun Synonyms: maintain, assert, defend, vindicate, justify mean to uphold as true, right, just, or reasonable. maintain stresses firmness of conviction <steadfastly maintained his innocence>. assert suggests determination to make others accept one's claim <asserted her rights>. defend implies maintaining in the face of attack or criticism <defended his voting record>. vindicate implies successfully defending <his success vindicated our faith in him>. justify implies showing to be true, just, or valid by appeal to a standard or to precedent <the action was used to justify military intervention>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 cause to continue; keep up, preserve (a state of affairs, an activity, etc.) (maintained friendly relations). 2 (often foll. by in; often refl.) support (life, a condition, etc.) by work, nourishment, expenditure, etc. (maintained him in comfort; maintained themselves by fishing). 3 (often foll. by that + clause) assert (an opinion, statement, etc.) as true (maintained that she was the best; his story was true, he maintained). 4 preserve or provide for the preservation of (a building, machine, road, etc.) in good repair. 5 give aid to (a cause, party, etc.). 6 provide means for (a garrison etc. to be equipped). Phrases and idioms: maintained school Brit. a school supported from public funds. Derivatives: maintainable adj. maintainability n. Etymology: ME f. OF maintenir ult. f. L manu tenere hold in the hand

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Maintain Main*tain, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Maintained; p. pr. & vb. n. Maintaining.] [OE. maintenen, F. maintenir, properly, to hold by the hand; main hand (L. manus) + F. tenir to hold (L. tenere). See Manual, and Tenable.] 1. 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. To keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish. God values . . . every one as he maintains his post. --Grew. 3. To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail. Maintain talk with the duke. --Shak. 4. To bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed. Glad, by his labor, to maintain his life. --Stirling. What maintains one vice would bring up two children. --Franklin. 5. To affirm; to support or defend by argument. It is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to be maintained by it. --South. Syn: To assert; vindicate; allege. See Assert.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(maintains, maintaining, maintained) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you maintain something, you continue to have it, and do not let it stop or grow weaker. The Department maintains many close contacts with the chemical industry... VERB: V n 2. If you say that someone maintains that something is true, you mean that they have stated their opinion strongly but not everyone agrees with them or believes them. He has maintained that the money was donated for international purposes... 'Not all feminism has to be like this,' Jo maintains... He had always maintained his innocence. = claim VERB: V that, V with quote, V n 3. If you maintain something at a particular rate or level, you keep it at that rate or level. The government was right to maintain interest rates at a high level. VERB: V n at n 4. If you maintain a road, building, vehicle, or machine, you keep it in good condition by regularly checking it and repairing it when necessary. The house costs a fortune to maintain... The cars are getting older and less well-maintained. = look after VERB: V n, V-ed 5. If you maintain someone, you provide them with money and other things that they need. ...the basic costs of maintaining a child. = provide for, support VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Sustain, support, preserve, uphold, keep. 2. Hold, keep, keep possession of. 3. Defend, vindicate, justify. 4. Continue, keep up, carry on. 5. Provide food for, supply with means of living, support, keep up. 6. Assert, allege, declare. II. v. n. Affirm, aver, allege, declare, hold, say, contend, hold the opinion.

Moby Thesaurus

abide, accommodate, account as, advocate, affirm, afford, afford support, allege, allege in support, announce, annunciate, answer, argue, argue for, assert, assever, asseverate, assume, aver, avouch, avow, back, back up, be afraid, bear, bear out, bear up, bide, blow to, bolster, bolster up, bottle up, brace, brook no denial, buoy up, buttress, care for, carry, carry on, champion, claim, clothe, conceive, conserve, consider, contend, contend for, continue, continue to be, contribute, copyright, cork up, correct, counter, cradle, crutch, cultivate, cushion, daresay, declare, deem, defeat time, defend, defy time, donate, dwell, emphasize, endow, endure, enunciate, espouse, esteem, estimate, exist, expect, express, extend, fancy, fight for, fill, fill up, finance, find, fund, furnish, give, give support, go on, go treat, guard, guess, have, have a hunch, have an idea, have an impression, have an inkling, have the idea, hold, hold as, hold in, hold on, hold out, hold up, husband, imagine, inhibit, insist, insist on, insist upon, invest, issue a manifesto, judge, justify, keep, keep afloat, keep alive, keep going, keep in, keep intact, keep inviolate, keep on, keep safe, keep up, last, last long, last out, lay down, lend support, lengthen, live, live on, live through, lock in, look after, look upon as, mainstay, make a plea, make available, make provision for, manage, manifesto, not destroy, not endanger, not expend, not use up, not waste, nurture, opine, patent, pay the bill, perdure, perennate, perpetuate, persist, persist in, pillow, plead for, predicate, prepare, present, preserve, press, presume, prevail, proclaim, profess, prolong, pronounce, prop, prop up, protect, protest, protract, provide, provide for, put, put it, rebut, reckon, recruit, rectify, refute, regard, register, reinforce, remain, replenish, reply, repress, respond, retain, right, riposte, run, run on, save, save up, say, say in defense, set down, set down as, set up, shore, shore up, shoulder, spare, speak, speak for, speak out, speak up, speak up for, stand, stand by, stand drinks, stand for, stand on, stand to, stand treat, stand up for, state, stay, stay on, stick to, stick up for, stock, store, stress, submit, subsidize, subsist, subvention, subventionize, supply, support, suppose, suppress, surmise, survive, suspect, sustain, take, take care of, take for, take it, take no denial, tarry, testify, think, tide over, treat, treat to, trow, underbrace, undergird, underlie, underpin, underset, upbear, uphold, upkeep, urge, urge reasons for, view as, vindicate, vouchsafe, warrant, wear, wear well, ween, yield