Maintenance is the work of keeping something in order before it breaks: checking, oiling, tightening, replacing the parts that wear out. Track maintenance closing a railway line all Sunday, the maintenance man fixing the lift, the annual boiler service you keep putting off.
In family law maintenance is money one parent pays the other for the children after a separation, or money paid to an ex-husband or ex-wife: a maintenance order, maintenance payments, he fell behind on maintenance. Americans say child support or alimony instead. Maintenance also covers keeping any state going — the maintenance of law and order, the maintenance of standards. Watch the spelling, because it catches native speakers every week: the verb is maintain with -tain, the noun is maintenance with -ten- and no i. Low-maintenance and high-maintenance say how much work something needs, and a high-maintenance person needs constant attention.
1nounrailThe work of keeping machines, buildings or roads in good condition.~70%
“The tunnel is shut overnight for maintenance.”
synonyms: upkeep, servicing
2nounmaintenanceMoney paid regularly to support a child or a former partner after a separation.~2%
“He pays maintenance for both daughters until they finish school.”
3nounactThe act of keeping a situation or level going.~28%
“The police are responsible for the maintenance of order at the march.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 7 sentences found in the wild and placed 7 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
MAINTenance → the PAINT you put on again
You paint it again every few years and it goes on standing.
hooks ontopaint
Maintenance came through Old French maintenance from the verb maintenir, and behind that sits Latin manus tenēre, to hold in the hand. Maintenance is literally keeping hold of a thing so it does not fall. The verb shifted its sound and spelling on the way into English while the noun did not, which is exactly why we write maintain with -tain but maintenance with -ten-.
Proto-Indo-European
*ten-
Latin
manus tenēre — to hold in the hand
Old French
maintenance
Middle English
mayntenaunce
English, today
maintenance
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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA