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Definitions

maintain

[mayn-tayn] / meɪnˈteɪn /




Usage

What are other ways to say maintain? To maintain is to support so as to preserve intact: to maintain an attitude of defiance. To support is to hold up or add strength to, literally or figuratively: The columns support the roof. To sustain, a rather elevated word, suggests completeness and adequacy in supporting: The court sustained his claim. Uphold applies especially to supporting or backing another, as in a statement, opinion, or belief: to uphold the rights of a minority.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Sure, that’s in part to maintain a competitive edge in an ever-techified entertainment industry.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

If you plan to maintain a banking relationship in the United States, federal law requires you to provide a physical address to prove your identity.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

In nuclear physics, criticality refers to the point at which a chain reaction becomes self-sustaining, with each generation of fission reactions producing enough neutrons to maintain the next.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

The two companies representing Prince's interests in the DRC, Vectus Global and Quantum Global Consulting, maintain a presence in the national capital Kinshasa, but their executives keep a low profile.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

I maintain that one reaches this princedom either with the favour of the common people or with that of the nobility, since these two different humours are found in every body politic.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

He spent some evenings going over it, then consulted Japanese patent engineer Satoshi Tomokiyo, who maintains an online list of unsolved ciphers, to verify it.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

MS maintains its target price of 3,088 New Taiwan dollars on TSMC.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The nonprofit Medicare Rights Center maintains a national hotline.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Dunmoyer maintains that even if they’re not explicitly listed, data centers just don’t fit the measure’s definition.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

Mars has no insects, parasites, or blights to deal with, and the Hab maintains perfect growing temperature and moisture at all times.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

Kim maintained a hiring pause, stopped merit raises and took “a hard look at a lot of our administrative expenses and our operations,” he told The Times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Even after extensive laboratory expansion, the GMPs maintained the molecular characteristics that defined them.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Still, the company maintained output guidance of 5.1 million-5.6 million lbs of U3O8 in FY27.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

First Resources told the BBC in a statement that it maintained a "strict zero burning policy across all planting activities and implement robust fire prevention, monitoring and firefighting measures throughout our operations".

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

This theory, which goes back to the ancient Greeks, declares that health is maintained by a balance of four liquids, or humors, in the body—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

If Microsoft can deliver the same useful service for less while maintaining prices, it retains more revenue after delivery expenses.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

“Is it based on colonial standards? Or is it based on maintaining our cultural richness and our legacy, that is handed down to us regardless of where we are?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Stem cells are known for their ability to self-renew, meaning they can repeatedly divide while maintaining their original properties.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

French regions are responsible for maintaining some 3,700 high school buildings, with their representative association insisting they have "invested heavily" in recent years.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

If heredity had no means of maintaining variance—of “fixing” the altered trait—then all alterations in characters would eventually vanish into colorless oblivion by virtue of blending.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee


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