SUSTENANCES Synonyms: 10 Similar and Opposite Words

sustenance

noun

ˈsə-stə-nən(t)s

as in food

something that maintains or stimulates the intellect my only sustenance on the long flight was a trashy novel I'd bought in the airport

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of sustenance On a recent Sunday afternoon at a South Austin coffee shop, Hinojosa downed a bright orange vitamin C drink, her only sustenance after a quick Mexican breakfast between stops hours earlier. —

Karen Brooks Harper austin Bureau, Dallas Morning News, 26 Feb. 2026 Reducing bureaucracy and streamlining industry fees are key pillars of achieving sustenance and making Nigerian producers competitive. —

Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 9 Feb. 2026 So people are getting more and more frustrated— My concern is with the sustenance of democracy and democratic institutions. —

David Remnick, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026 In doing so the mussels eliminate the base of the lake food chain, the sustenance for young and small fish. —

Theodore J. Karamanski, Chicago Tribune, 6 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for sustenance

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sustenance

Noun

Eco effort Few & Far Luvhondo operates on solar power and is 100% zero waste, in part thanks to an army of black soldier flies that turn food scraps into fertilizer.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Mar. 2026
Marzan was assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines — a unit tasked with supplying troops with food, fuel, ammunition and equipment — and deployed to Kuwait to support the war effort.

— Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2026