Library / English Dictionary

MAINTAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stick to correctly or closely

Example:

I cannot keep track of all my employees

Synonyms:

keep; maintain; observe

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Support against an opponent

Example:

The appellate court upheld the verdict

Synonyms:

maintain; uphold

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

confirm; reassert (strengthen or make more firm)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "maintain"):

justify; vindicate (show to be right by providing justification or proof)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

State categorically

Synonyms:

assert; asseverate; maintain

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

insist; take a firm stand (be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "maintain"):

allege; aver; say (report or maintain)

predicate; proclaim (affirm or declare as an attribute or quality of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They maintain that there was a traffic accident

Sense 4

Meaning:

State or assert

Example:

He maintained his innocence

Synonyms:

defend; maintain

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

affirm (say yes to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "maintain"):

vindicate (maintain, uphold, or defend)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 5

Meaning:

Maintain by writing regular records

Example:

keep notes

Synonyms:

keep; maintain

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

enter; put down; record (make a record of; set down in permanent form)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Supply with necessities and support

Example:

There's little to earn and many to keep

Synonyms:

keep; maintain; sustain

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

have; have got; hold (have or possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "maintain"):

patronage (support by being a patron of)

reseed (maintain by seeding without human intervention)

carry (keep up with financial support)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

maintenance (the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence)

maintenance (means of maintenance of a family or group)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Maintain for use and service

Example:

She keeps an apartment in Paris for her shopping trips

Synonyms:

keep; maintain

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

have; have got; hold (have or possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Have and exercise

Example:

wield power and authority

Synonyms:

exert; maintain; wield

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

have; have got; hold (have or possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 9

Meaning:

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

Example:

The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts

Synonyms:

conserve; keep up; maintain; preserve

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "maintain" is one way to...):

keep (look after; be the keeper of; have charge of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "maintain"):

hold the line (hold the line on prices; keep the price of something constant)

plastinate (preserve (tissue) with plastics, as for teaching and research purposes)

embalm (preserve a dead body)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

maintenance (activity involved in maintaining something in good working order)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean'

Example:

The students keep me on my toes

Synonyms:

hold; keep; maintain

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "maintain"):

pressurise; pressurize (maintain a certain pressure)

bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold (keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last)

hold over (keep in a position or state from an earlier period of time)

conserve (keep constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary change)

preserve (keep undisturbed for personal or private use for hunting, shooting, or fishing)

distance (keep at a distance)

housekeep (maintain a household; take care of all business related to a household)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s something Adjective/Noun
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

maintainable (capable of being maintained)

maintainer (someone who upholds or maintains)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A multitude of bacteria populate the human digestive tract, and this gut microbiota plays important roles in maintaining health.

(Bacteriophage therapy may ease severity of alcoholic hepatitis, National Institutes of Health)

At 246 miles (396 kilometers) wide, Mimas is too small to have retained internal heat from its formation, so some other source of energy would be required to maintain an underground ocean.

(Saturn Moon May Hide a 'Fossil' Core or an Ocean, NASA)

Creating and maintaining successful conservation policy means constantly looking for breakdowns in the system.

(Belly up to the bamboo buffet: Pandas vs. horses, NSF)

The researchers found that there are many areas of the genome that define each species, and these are maintained by natural selection, which weeds out the foreign genes.

(Butterflies are genetically wired to choose a mate that looks just like them, University of Cambridge)

Given the importance of maintaining an adequate balance of these mechanisms to promote more successful pregnancies, the results of the present study could be relevant to the clinical setting.

(A new study highlights the importance of undertaking physical activity of moderate–vigorous intensity during the early weeks of pregnancy, University of Granada)

Stability in climate patterns is crucial to maintaining fish productivity.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

I merely maintain my right as an individual.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Despite sequence variation, the domain core maintains a stable surface of contact residues to mediate protein-protein interactions.

(Ankyrin Repeat, NCI Thesaurus)

It maintains stability of active ingredients and is used as a preservative.

(Anhydrous Citric Acid, NCI Thesaurus)

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is a highly conserved biological pathway that plays a key role in maintaining genomic stability.

(Mismatch Repair Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)