Adjacent Words

Sustenance definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUS'TENANCE, n.
1. Support; maintenance; subsistence; as the sustenance of the body; the sustenance of life.
2. That which supports life; food; victuals; provisions. This city has ample sustenance.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a source of materials to nourish the body [syn: nutriment, nourishment, nutrition, sustenance, aliment, alimentation, victuals]
2: the financial means whereby one lives; "each child was expected to pay for their keep"; "he applied to the state for support"; "he could no longer earn his own livelihood" [syn: support, keep, livelihood, living, bread and butter, sustenance]
3: the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence; "they were in want of sustenance"; "fishing was their main sustainment" [syn: sustenance, sustentation, sustainment, maintenance, upkeep]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from sustenir Date: 14th century 1. a. means of support, maintenance, or subsistence ; living b. food, provisions; also nourishment 2. a. the act of sustaining ; the state of being sustained b. a supplying or being supplied with the necessaries of life 3. something that gives support, endurance, or strength

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a nourishment, food. b the process of nourishing. 2 a means of support; a livelihood. Etymology: ME f. AF sustenaunce, OF so(u)stenance (as SUSTAIN)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sustenance Sus"te*nance, n. [OF. sustenance, sostenance, soustenance: cf. L. sustenentia endurance. See Sustain.] 1. The act of sustaining; support; maintenance; subsistence; as, the sustenance of the body; the sustenance of life. 2. That which supports life; food; victuals; provisions; means of living; as, the city has ample sustenance. ``A man of little sustenance.'' --Chaucer. For lying is thy sustenance, thy food. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Sustenance is food or drink which a person, animal, or plant needs to remain alive and healthy. (FORMAL) The state provided a basic quantity of food for daily sustenance, but little else.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Subsistence, support, maintenance. 2. Food, victuals, provisions, bread, supplies. 3. Food, aliment, nutriment, nourishment, pabulum.

Moby Thesaurus

TLC, aid, aliment, alimentation, alimony, backing, board, bread, bread and butter, care, carriage, carrying, cheer, chow, comestibles, continualness, continuance, continuation, continuity, creature comfort, cuisine, daily bread, eatables, eats, economic support, edibles, endowment, endurance, extension, fare, fast food, feast, food, food and drink, foodstuff, foodstuffs, groceries, grub, health food, ingesta, junk food, keep, kitchen stuff, lengthening, livelihood, living, maintenance, manna, meat, moral support, mothering, nosh, nourishment, nurture, nutriment, pabulum, pap, perpetuation, perseverance, persistence, price support, progress, progression, prolongation, protraction, provender, provision, provisions, psychological support, pursuance, rations, refection, refreshment, reliance, repetition, run, salt, scoff, security blanket, spread, staying power, straight course, subsidization, subsidy, subsistence, subvention, support, supportive relationship, supportive therapy, sustained action, sustaining, sustainment, sustentation, table, tender loving care, tucker, uninterrupted course, unremittingness, upholding, upkeep, viands, victuals, vittles, way