verb · neutral
maintain
/meɪnˈteɪn/main·TAIN
to keep something in the same state, to preserve, to continue to assert something
Examples
“The council maintains the city's parks every month.”
“She maintains that the policy will benefit the poor.”
“It's hard to maintain a high standard of living on that salary.”
Band 8 sentence
“Although the museum struggles financially, it manages to maintain high conservation standards for its collections.”
Collocations
- maintain order
- maintain that
- maintain standards
- maintain a relationship
Word family
Common mistakes
to maintain that... is true (with no object)→maintain that...
maintain on the standard→maintain the standard
Say it for a higher band
5keep→6preserve→7+maintain
Synonyms
preserve
sustain
Easily confused
preserve
“We must preserve ancient monuments for future generations.”
sustain
“The policy aims to sustain economic growth over ten years.”
Related words
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In Sublist 3
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