maintenance

noun

main·​te·​nance ˈmānt-nən(t)s How to pronounce maintenance (audio)
ˈmān-tə-nən(t)s
1
: the act of maintaining : the state of being maintained : support
The building has suffered from years of poor maintenance.
2
: something that maintains
at least half of them are living parasitically on the other half instead of producing maintenance for themselvesG. B. Shaw
3
: the upkeep of property or equipment
the maintenance of the school
4
: an officious or unlawful intermeddling in a legal suit by assisting either party with means to carry it on

Examples of maintenance in a Sentence

Soon he could take an Underwood apart and put it together blindfolded, a trick that won him the account for maintenance of all the typewriters at Columbia-Presbyterian hospital … Ian Frazier, Atlantic, November 1997
The building has suffered from years of poor maintenance. the costs of routine car maintenance maintenance of law and order money for the family's maintenance
Recent Examples on the Web The unit also comes with a hefty $17,495 monthly maintenance fee, as well as a concierge, doorman, resident super and manager, and the privilege of paying for access to the adjacent members-only River Club offering an athletic club with a pool, tennis and squash courts, a gym and restaurant. Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 19 Sep. 2023 Although the heavy rainfall in Libya is unusual and rare even factoring in climate change, the report highlighted poor dam maintenance, land use, armed conflict and political instability as factors that all played a significant role in the humanitarian disaster. Jon Haworth, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2023 Patrick Breen, the maintenance supervisor, said that’s not enough to care for the agency’s 589 units, many of which were built 60 to 70 years ago. Todd Wallack, ProPublica, 19 Sep. 2023 Part of the reason for the overhaul is the city’s declining ability to afford upgrades to its parking infrastructure, such as lot-repaving and garage maintenance, said Division of Parking Facilities Commissioner Kim Johnson. Courtney Astolfi, cleveland, 18 Sep. 2023 The company in August said its Smart FM property management AI tool is now being used in 1 billion square feet of client space across more than 20,000 sites to better keep track of maintenance requests and process building data. Mitchell Parton, Dallas News, 18 Sep. 2023 For now, Bungie is working on a fix and doesn’t appear to be ready to take Destiny 2 offline for emergency maintenance or even rollback servers. Tom Warren, The Verge, 15 Sep. 2023 Jones’s Texas lake house, which is his second home, cost him nearly $6,700 in July, including maintenance and property taxes, the filing says. Timothy Bella, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023 In recent months, the Voice of San Diego reported that the international plant, which is on the U.S. side of the border, had fallen into serious disrepair, in part because of the lack of maintenance. Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'maintenance.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from maintenir — see maintain

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of maintenance was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near maintenance

Cite this Entry

“Maintenance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maintenance. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.

Kids Definition

maintenance

noun
main·​te·​nance ˈmānt-nən(t)s How to pronounce maintenance (audio)
-ᵊn-ən(t)s
1
: the act of maintaining : the state of being maintained
maintenance of law and order
money for the family's maintenance
2
: something that maintains
3
: the care of property or equipment
workers in charge of maintenance

Medical Definition

maintenance

adjective
main·​te·​nance ˈmānt-nən(t)s, -ᵊn-ən(t)s How to pronounce maintenance (audio)
: designed or adequate to maintain a patient in a stable condition : serving to maintain a gradual process of healing or to prevent a relapse
a maintenance dose
maintenance chemotherapy

Legal Definition

maintenance

noun
main·​te·​nance
1
a
: the act of providing basic and necessary support
b
: the state of having such support
2
: a financial means of providing necessary assistance: as
a
b
3
: the necessities of life provided for by payment of maintenance
4
: the upkeep of property or equipment
5
: unsought and unnecessary meddling in a lawsuit by assisting either party with means to carry it on compare champerty

More from Merriam-Webster on maintenance

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