Maintenance vs. Maintain

Maintenancenoun

Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service

Maintainverb

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

Maintenancenoun

(legal) A tort committed when a third party who does not have a bona fide interest in a lawsuit provides help or acquires an interest to a litigant's lawsuit.

Maintainverb

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

Maintenancenoun

Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.

Maintainverb

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

Maintenancenoun

(legal) Child support.

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.

Maintenancenoun

Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family.

Maintainverb

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

‘God values . . . every one as he maintains his post.’;

Maintenancenoun

(biology) The natural process which keeps an organism alive.

Maintainverb

To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail.

‘Maintain talk with the duke.’;

Maintenancenoun

The act of maintaining; sustenance; support; defense; vindication.

‘Whatsoever is granted to the church for God's honor and the maintenance of his service, is granted to God.’;

Maintainverb

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

‘Glad, by his labor, to maintain his life.’; ‘What maintains one vice would bring up two children.’;

Maintenancenoun

That which maintains or supports; means of sustenance; supply of necessaries and conveniences.

‘Those of better fortune not making learning their maintenance.’;

Maintainverb

To affirm; to support or defend by argument.

‘It is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to be maintained by it.’;

Maintenancenoun

An officious or unlawful intermeddling in a cause depending between others, by assisting either party with money or means to carry it on. See Champerty.

Maintainverb

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’;

Maintenancenoun

Those actions required for the care of machinery, a building, etc., to keep it clean and in proper functioning condition, and to prevent or forestall damage due to normal use.

Maintainverb

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’;

Maintenancenoun

Payments, such as child support or alimony, to a dependent child not living with one or to a divorced wife.

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’;

Maintenancenoun

activity involved in maintaining something in good working order;

‘he wrote the manual on car care’;

Maintainverb

state categorically

Maintenancenoun

means of maintenance of a family or group

Maintainverb

of power or authority

Maintenancenoun

court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated

Maintainverb

maintain for use and service;

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

Maintenancenoun

the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence;

‘they were in want of sustenance’; ‘fishing was their main sustainment’;

Maintainverb

maintain by writing regular records;

‘keep a diary’; ‘maintain a record’; ‘keep notes’;

Maintenancenoun

the process of preserving a condition or situation or the state of being preserved

‘crucial conditions for the maintenance of democratic government’;

Maintainverb

state or assert;

‘He maintained his innocence’;

Maintenancenoun

the process of keeping something in good condition

‘car maintenance’; ‘essential maintenance work’;

Maintainverb

support against an opponent;

‘The appellate court upheld the verdict’;

Maintenancenoun

the provision of financial support for a person's living expenses, or the support so provided

‘a chance of going to university with fees and maintenance paid’;

Maintainverb

observe correctly or closely;

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

Maintenancenoun

a husband's or wife's provision for their spouse after separation or divorce

‘a divorced man paying his ex-wife £2,500 a year maintenance’;

Maintainverb

cause or enable (a condition or situation) to continue

‘the need to maintain close links between industry and schools’;

Maintenancenoun

the offence of aiding a party in a legal action without lawful cause.

Maintainverb

keep (something) at the same level or rate

‘agricultural prices will have to be maintained’;

Maintainverb

keep (a building, machine, or road) in good condition by checking or repairing it regularly

‘the Department for Transport is responsible for maintaining the main roads in England’;

Maintainverb

provide with necessities for life or existence

‘the allowance covers the basic costs of maintaining a child’;

Maintainverb

keep (a military unit) supplied with equipment and other requirements

‘an English garrison was maintained there in the seventeenth century’;

Maintainverb

give one's support to; uphold

‘the king swears he will maintain the laws of God’;

Maintainverb

state something strongly to be the case; assert

‘he has always maintained his innocence’; ‘he had persistently maintained that he would not stand against his old friend’;