maintenance
part of speech
noun (maintenance — uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) Work done to keep a building, machine, road and so on in good working order. tree →
2) (UK, Ireland, Australia) Money paid regularly by one parent to help look after a child after a divorce or separation. tree →
3) Keeping something at the same level (weight maintenance). tree →
4) Maintenance can also mean the food and supplies that keep a person or household alive. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life: bike maintenance, car maintenance, the maintenance team fixing a leaking roof at school. In safety: machines and lifts need regular maintenance. Phrases: under maintenance, maintenance work, low maintenance (needs little care), high maintenance (needs a lot of care or attention, sometimes said of people, informally).
examples
- And there will be goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household; and maintenance for thy maidens. (Writings PRO.27.27, JPS 1917) tree →
- The pool is closed for maintenance. tree →
- Bike maintenance includes pumping tyres and oiling the chain. tree →
- The school's maintenance man fixed the door. tree →
- The website is down for maintenance. tree →
- A cactus is a low-maintenance plant. tree →
- Regular maintenance keeps the lifts safe. tree →
- Dad pays maintenance for my brother. tree →
- A JACKDAW, seeing some Doves in a cote abundantly provided with food, painted himself white and joined them in order to share their plentiful maintenance. tree →
note
Uncountable. Verb: maintain — spelling trap: maintain but mainTENance (not "maintainance"). "High maintenance" about a person is informal and a bit rude.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «maintenance» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.