maintenance

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (to hold in the hand). By surface analysis, maintain +‎ -ance.

Note that maintain has undergone a sound and spelling change, hence is spelt with -tain-, rather than the -ten- still found in maintenance.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/, /ˈmeɪntɪnəns/, [ˈmẽɪ̃(n)ʔ(ə)nəns]
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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maintenance (usually uncountable, plural maintenances)

  1. Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.
    • 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42:
      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. (law) 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. (law, UK) Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.
  4. (law) Child support.
  5. Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family.
  6. (biology) The natural process which keeps an organism alive.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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From maintenir (to maintain) +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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maintenance f (plural maintenances)

  1. maintenance

Further reading

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