What does "maintenance" mean?
Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.
Maintenance
/ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/ noun, slang
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.
- Grammar: maintenance is listed as noun, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: care, upkeep, abidingness, age.
- Useful contrasts: diagnostic process, long term degradation, abandon.
- Usage evidence: Getting a sports car is easy, compared to the maintenance one must do on it.
How to use "maintenance"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "maintenance" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "maintenance" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "maintenance" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "maintenance" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "maintenance" is acting as noun, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "care" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "maintenance", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service. uncountable, usually
"They are all preventable by proper maintenance, but non-safety critical maintenance has to be evaluated, so failures are an accepted penalty for keeping maintenance costs down."
- 2 activity involved in maintaining something in good working order wordnet
- 3 A tort and (in some jurisdictions) an offence 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. uncountable, usually
- 4 the unauthorized interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it (as by helping one party with money or otherwise to continue the action) so as to obstruct justice or promote unnecessary litigation or unsettle the peace of the community wordnet
- 5 Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce. UK, uncountable, usually
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence wordnet
- 7 Child support. uncountable, usually
- 8 court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated wordnet
- 9 Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family. uncountable, usually
"From Pond to Pond he roamed, from moor to moor; / Housing, with God's good help, by choice or chance: / And in this way he gained an honest maintenance."
- 10 means of maintenance of a family or group wordnet
- 11 The natural process which keeps an organism alive. uncountable, usually
- 12 Ellipsis of maintenance medicine. Philippines, abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial, ellipsis, uncountable, usually
- 13 Software updates that fix bugs and improve stability rather than adding new features. attributive, uncountable, usually
"a maintenance release; a maintenance version"
Antonyms
Example
"Getting a sports car is easy, compared to the maintenance one must do on it."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "maintenance"?
Common synonyms include: care, upkeep, abidingness, age, aid, alimentation.
How do you use "maintenance" in a sentence?
Getting a sports car is easy, compared to the maintenance one must do on it.
How do you pronounce "maintenance"?
Pronounced /ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/.
Etymology
From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (“to hold in the hand”). By surface analysis, maintain + -ance. Note that maintain has undergone a sound and spelling change, hence is spelt with -tain-, rather than the -ten- still found in maintenance.