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Definition of Maintain
1. Verb. Keep in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g.,. "The students keep me on my toes"
Specialized synonyms: Pressurise, Pressurize, Bear On, Carry On, Continue, Preserve, Uphold, Hold Over, Conserve, Preserve, Distance, Housekeep
Also: Hold Back, Hold Out, Hold Out, Hold Over, Hold Up, Keep Apart, Keep Down, Keep In, Keep Off, Keep Off, Keep Out, Keep Up, Keep Up
Derivative terms: Maintainable, Maintainer
2. Verb. Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction. "The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts"
Generic synonyms: Keep
Specialized synonyms: Embalm, Plastinate, Hold The Line
Derivative terms: Conservation, Conservation, Maintenance, Preservation, Preservative
3. Verb. Supply with necessities and support. "There's little to earn and many to keep"
Specialized synonyms: Patronage, Reseed, Carry
Generic synonyms: Have, Have Got, Hold
Derivative terms: Keep, Maintenance, Maintenance, Sustenance
4. Verb. State categorically. "They maintain that there was a traffic accident "
Generic synonyms: Insist, Take A Firm Stand
Specialized synonyms: Allege, Aver, Say, Predicate, Proclaim
Derivative terms: Assertable, Assertion, Asseveration, Asseverator
5. Verb. Have and exercise. ; "Wield power and authority"
6. Verb. Maintain for use and service. "She keeps an apartment in Paris for her shopping trips"
7. Verb. Maintain by writing regular records. "Keep notes"
8. Verb. State or assert. "He maintained his innocence"
Specialized synonyms: Vindicate
Generic synonyms: Affirm
Derivative terms: Defensible, Defensive
9. Verb. Support against an opponent. "The appellate court upheld the verdict"
Specialized synonyms: Justify, Vindicate
Generic synonyms: Confirm, Reassert
Derivative terms: Upholder
10. Verb. Stick to correctly or closely. "I cannot keep track of all my employees"
Derivative terms: Observation, Observation, Observation, Observation, Observation
Definition of Maintain
1. v. t. To hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain a fence or a railroad; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present reputation.
Definition of Maintain
1. Verb. (obsolete transitive) To support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action. (defdate 14th-19th c.) ¹
2. Verb. To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.). (defdate from 14th c.) ¹
3. Verb. To declare or affirm (a clause) to be true; to assert. (defdate from 15th c.) ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Maintain
1. to keep in proper condition [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Medical Definition of Maintain
1. 1. To hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain a fence or a railroad; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present reputation. 2. To keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish. "God values . . . Every one as he maintains his post." (Grew) 3. To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail. "Maintain talk with the duke." (Shak) 4. To bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed. "Glad, by his labour, to maintain his life." (Stirling) "What maintains one vice would bring up two children." (Franklin) 5. To affirm; to support or defend by argument. "It is hard to maintain the truth, but much harder to be maintained by it." (South) Synonym: To assert, vindicate, allege. See Assert. Origin: OE. Maintenen, F. Maintenir, properly, to hold by the hand; main hand (L. Manus) + F. Tenir to hold (L.tenere). See Manual, and Tenable. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Maintain
Literary usage of Maintain
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"Reflection will show that the failure to maintain the flow is as much an obstruction
as an actual plug or the compression exerted by a tumor, ..."
2. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Henry Reeve (1899)
"CHAPTER XVII PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH TEND TO maintain THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IN
... Several of the causes which contribute to maintain the institutions of ..."
3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Henry Reeve (1862)
"I am convinced that the most advantageous situation and the best possible laws
cannot maintain a constitution in spite of the manners of a country; ..."
4. The American and English Encyclopedia of Law by David Shephard Garland, John Houston Merrill, Charles Frederic Williams, Thomas Johnson Michie (1889)
"The general rule is that railroad companies are bound to maintain fences at
private crossings. Indianapolis, etc., Co. v. Lowe, 29 Ind. 545; Cincinnati, ..."
5. The woman in white by Wilkie Collins (1871)
"was surely not unnatural that my spirits should sink, and my customary composure
be very hard to maintain. My mind was ill at ease. ..."
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