main·te·nance

(mān′tə-nəns)

1. The act of maintaining or the state of being maintained: nutrients essential to the maintenance of good health.

2. The work of keeping something in proper condition; upkeep: car maintenance.

a. Provision of support or livelihood: took over the maintenance of her family.

b. Means of support or livelihood: was ordered to pay maintenance for both children.

4. Law The wrongful aiding of another in the pursuit or defense of a lawsuit, especially in jurisdictions where nonparties are legally prohibited to provide financial assistance.

[Middle English maintenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain; see maintain.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

maintenance

(ˈmeɪntɪnəns)

1. the act of maintaining or the state of being maintained

2. a means of support; livelihood

3. (modifier) of or relating to the maintaining of buildings, machinery, etc: maintenance man.

4. (Law) law (formerly unlawful) the interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it, as by providing funds to continue the action. See also champerty

5. (Law) law a provision ordered to be made by way of periodical payments or a lump sum, as after a divorce for a spouse

6. (Computer Science) computing

a. the correction or prevention of faults in hardware by a programme of inspection and the replacement of parts

b. the removal of existing faults and the modification of software in response to changes in specification or environment

[C14: from Old French; see maintain]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

main•te•nance

(ˈmeɪn tə nəns)

n.

1. the act of maintaining or the state of being maintained.

2. means of support or subsistence; livelihood.

3. a meddling in a lawsuit in which the meddler has no interest.

[1275–1325; < Middle French maintenance. See maintain, -ance]

maintenance

1. All action taken to retain materiel in or to restore it to a specified condition. It includes: inspection, testing, servicing, classification as to serviceability, repair, rebuilding, and reclamation.
2. All supply and repair action taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.
3. The routine recurring work required to keep a facility (plant, building, structure, ground facility, utility system, or other real property) in such condition that it may be continuously utilized, at its original or designed capacity and efficiency, for its intended purpose.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

maintenance

(payments) child support

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	maintenance - activity involved in maintaining something in good working order; "he wrote the manual on car care" upkeep, care fixing, repair, mend, mending, reparation, fix, fixture - the act of putting something in working order again camera care - keeping a camera in good working order car care - keeping a car in good working order inspection and repair, overhaul, service - periodic maintenance on a car or machine; "it was time for an overhaul on the tractor" pump priming - introducing water into a pump to improve the seal and start the water flowing scheduled maintenance - maintenance at a regularly scheduled time steam fitting - care (installation and maintenance) of equipment for ventilating or heating or refrigerating
	2.	maintenance - means of maintenance of a family or group bread and butter, keep, livelihood, sustenance, living, support - the financial means whereby one lives; "each child was expected to pay for their keep"; "he applied to the state for support"; "he could no longer earn his own livelihood"
	3.	maintenance - court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated alimony support payment - a payment made by one person for the support of another
	4.	maintenance - the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence; "they were in want of sustenance"; "fishing was their main sustainment" sustainment, sustentation, upkeep, sustenance support - the activity of providing for or maintaining by supplying with money or necessities; "his support kept the family together"; "they gave him emotional support during difficult times"
	5.	maintenance - 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; "unlike champerty, criminal maintenance does not necessarily involve personal profit" criminal maintenance actus reus, wrongful conduct, misconduct, wrongdoing - activity that transgresses moral or civil law; "he denied any wrongdoing" law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"

maintenance

noun

1. upkeep, keeping, care, supply, repairs, provision, conservation, nurture, preservation the maintenance of government buildings

2. allowance, living, support, keep, food, livelihood, subsistence, upkeep, sustenance, alimony, aliment Absent fathers must pay maintenance for their children.

3. continuation, carrying-on, continuance, support, perpetuation, prolongation, sustainment, retainment the maintenance of peace and stability in Asia

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

maintenance

noun

The means needed to support life:

alimentation, alimony, bread, bread and butter, keep, livelihood, living, subsistence, support, sustenance, upkeep.

Translations

إدِّعاء، زَعْمصِيَانَةٌصِيانَه

údržbazachování

vedligeholdelsebevarelse

Instandhaltung Wahrung Wartung Alimente Beibehalten

συντήρηση

mantenimiento cuidado

hooldus

huoltokunnossapitoylläpito

entretien garde maintien tenue

održavanje

karbantartás

viîhaldviîhald; staîhæfing

manutenzione mantenimento sostentamento

維持保守

유지보수

onderhoud handhaving

opprettholdelse vedlikehold

utrzymanie

manutenção

обслуживание техническое обслуживание

vzdrževanje

underhåll

การดูแลรักษา

bakımbakım ve onarımiddia etmesavunma

sự duy trì

保养坚持维护

maintenance

[ˈmeɪntɪnəns]

A. N

1. (= upkeep) [of machine, car] → mantenimiento m; [of house, building] → manutención f, cuidado m

2. (= money paid to ex-wife and family) → pensión f alimenticia

B. CPD maintenance agreement N → contrato m de mantenimiento
maintenance allowance N → pensión f alimenticia
maintenance contract N = maintenance agreement maintenance costs NPL → gastos mpl de mantenimiento
maintenance crew N → personal m de servicios
maintenance grant N (Univ) → beca f
maintenance order N orden judicial que obliga al pago de una pensión alimenticia
maintenance payments NPL → pago msing de la manutención
maintenance staff N → personal m del servicio de mantenimiento

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

maintenance

[ˈmeɪntɪnəns] n

[building, machine, road] → entretien m

(British) (= alimony) (for child) → pension f alimentaire; (for ex-partner) → pension f alimentaire

[policy, state] → maintien mmaintenance contract n → contrat m d'entretienmaintenance costs npl [for building, road, machine] → coûts mpl de maintenancemaintenance grant n [student] → bourse f, bourse f d'étudesmaintenance order n → ordonnance f de versement de pension alimentaire

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

maintenance

(= keeping up) → Aufrechterhaltung f; (of law and order, peace etc) → Wahrung f; (of speed, attitude) → Beibehaltung f; (of life) → Erhaltung f

(Brit) (of family) → Unterhalt m; (= social security) → Unterstützung f; he has to pay maintenance → er ist unterhaltspflichtig

(= servicing: of machine, car) → Wartung f; (= upkeep) (of road, building etc) → Instandhaltung f; (of gardens) → Pflege f; (= cost) → Unterhalt m

maintenance

maintenance contract

n → Wartungsvertrag m

maintenance costs

pl → Unterhaltskosten pl

maintenance crew

n → Wartungsmannschaft f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

maintenance

[ˈmeɪntɪnəns] n (gen) → mantenimento; (of car, building) → manutenzione f; (alimony) → alimenti mpl

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

maintain

(meinˈtein) verb

1. to continue. How long can you maintain this silence?

2. to keep in good condition. He maintains his car very well.

3. to pay the expenses of. How can you maintain a wife and three children on your small salary?

4. to continue to argue or believe (that). I maintain that the theory is true.

ˈmaintenance (-tənəns) noun

1. the process of keeping something in good condition. car maintenance.

2. the act of maintaining (a point of view etc).

maintenance

→ صِيَانَةٌ údržba vedligeholdelse Instandhaltung συντήρηση mantenimiento ylläpito entretien održavanje manutenzione 維持 유지보수 onderhoud opprettholdelse utrzymanie manutenção техническое обслуживание underhåll การดูแลรักษา bakım sự duy trì 维护

main·te·nance

n. mantenimiento; [feeding] alimentación; sostén, apoyo; [of a building] conservación, mantenimiento.

maintenance

n mantenimiento; methadone — mantenimiento con metadona

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

A JACKDAW, seeing some Doves in a cote abundantly provided with food, painted himself white and joined them in order to share their plentiful maintenance. The Doves, as long as he was silent, supposed him to be one of themselves and admitted him to their cote.

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By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

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Van Baerle was sufficiently versed in the history of his country to know that the celebrated Grotius was confined in that castle after the death of Barneveldt; and that the States, in their generosity to the illustrious publicist, jurist, historian, poet, and divine, had granted to him for his daily maintenance the sum of twenty-four stivers.

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If only it were possible to assemble the hundred or more telephone buildings of New York in one vast plaza, and if the two thousand clerks and three thousand maintenance men and six thousand girl operators were to march to work each morning with bands and banners, then, perhaps, there might be the necessary quality of impressiveness by which any large idea must always be imparted to the public mind.

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Dashwood began shortly to give over every hope of the kind, and to be convinced, from the general drift of his discourse, that his assistance extended no farther than their maintenance for six months at Norland.

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Then is his escape consistent with the maintenance of them?

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The maintenance of this in safety throughout the coming year, was, therefore, their grand consideration.

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"It is only necessary for one powerful nation like Russia- barbaric as she is said to be- to place herself disinterestedly at the head of an alliance having for its object the maintenance of the balance of power of Europe, and it would save the world!"

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She was preparing for her ninth lying-in; and after bewailing the circumstance, and imploring their countenance as sponsors to the expected child, she could not conceal how important she felt they might be to the future maintenance of the eight already in being.

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The resources of the Union would not be equal to the maintenance of an army considerable enough to confine the larger States within the limits of their duty; nor would the means ever be furnished of forming such an army in the first instance.

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There be two swords amongst Christians, the spiritual and temporal; and both have their due office and place, in the maintenance of religion.

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And yet with all his seeming speed, Tarzan was in reality feeling his way with comparative slowness, searching constantly for limbs of adequate strength for the maintenance of this double weight.

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