maintenance
//ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns//
Forms
- Plural
- maintenances
Definitions
1.Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.
- They are all preventable by proper maintenance, but non-safety critical maintenance has to be evaluated, so failures are an accepted penalty for keeping maintenance costs down.
2.A tort and (in some jurisdictions) an offence committed when a third party who does not have a bona fide interest in a lawsuit provides help or acquires an interest to a litigant's lawsuit.
3.Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.
4.Child support.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3478
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (“to hold in the hand”). By surface analysis, maintain + -ance.