maintenance Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun activity involved in maintaining something in good working order
upkeep; care.
- he wrote the manual on car care
noun means of maintenance of a family or group
noun court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated
alimony.
noun the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence
sustainment; sustentation; upkeep; sustenance.
- they were in want of sustenance
- fishing was their main sustainment
noun the unauthorized interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it (as by helping one party with money or otherwise to continue the action) so as to obstruct justice or promote unnecessary litigation or unsettle the peace of the community
criminal maintenance.
- unlike champerty, criminal maintenance does not necessarily involve personal profit

OF. maintenance. See Maintain.

The act of maintaining; sustenance; support; defense; vindication.
Whatsoever is granted to the church for God's honor and the maintenance of his service, is granted to God. South.
That which maintains or supports; means of sustenance; supply of necessaries and conveniences.
Those of better fortune not making learning their maintenance. Swift.
(Crim. Law) An officious or unlawful intermeddling in a cause depending between others, by assisting either party with money or means to carry it on. See Champerty. Wharton.