maintenance
Usage
What are other ways to say maintenance?
Generally, maintenance refers to care or upkeep, as of machinery or property. But sometimes, maintenance refers to what is spent for the living of another: to provide for the maintenance or support of someone. Maintenance occasionally refers to the allowance itself provided for livelihood: They are entitled to a maintenance from this estate. Living and livelihood (a somewhat more formal word), both refer to what one earns to keep (oneself) alive, but are seldom interchangeable within the same phrase: to earn one's living; to threaten one's livelihood. “To make a living” suggests making just enough to keep alive, and is particularly frequent in the negative: You cannot make a living out of that. “To make a livelihood out of something” suggests rather making a business of it: to make a livelihood out of knitting hats.
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.
The company hires people for roles like janitor, maintenance worker and in other trades.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
Cutbacks in travel in the Middle East hit the company's maintenance business.
From Barron's • Apr. 21, 2026
Companies that develop tech in the areas of autonomous vehicles and drones, target identification, predictive maintenance and logistics optimization will be critical to defense and have the potential to drive ROI in capital investment.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 21, 2026
The nuclear plant itself needs constant monitoring and maintenance.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
Joe, the maintenance man, uses a defibrillator on me because the electricity from the lightning stopped my heart.
From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty
Vocabulary lists containing maintenance
Freak the Mighty
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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