maintain
verb
[ meɪnˈteɪn ]
• cause or enable (a condition or situation) to continue.
• "the need to maintain close links between industry and schools"
Similar:
continue,
keep,
keep going,
keep up,
keep alive,
keep in existence,
carry on,
preserve,
conserve,
prolong,
perpetuate,
sustain,
bolster (up),
prop up,
retain,
support,
bear,
Opposite:
break off,
• provide with necessities for life or existence.
• "the allowance covers the basic costs of maintaining a child"
• state something strongly to be the case; assert.
• "he has always maintained his innocence"
Similar:
insist (on),
declare,
assert,
protest,
state,
aver,
say,
announce,
affirm,
avow,
profess,
claim,
allege,
contend,
argue,
swear (to),
hold to,
asseverate,
Origin:
Middle English (also in the sense ‘practise an action habitually’): from Old French maintenir, from Latin manu tenere ‘hold in the hand’.
