Maintenance

Pronunciation

• Canada IPA: /ˈmeɪntɪnÉ™ns/
• IPA: /ˈmeɪntÉ™nÉ™ns/

Alternative forms

• maintenaunce

Origin

From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenere ("to hold in the hand").

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

Full definition of maintenance

Noun

1. Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service
2. (legal) A tort 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. (legal) A provision ordered to be made by way of periodical payments or a lump sum, as after a divorce for a spouse.

Related terms

• maintain