verb · academic
sustain
/səˈsteɪn/sus·TAIN
Band 5-6task2speaking
to cause something to continue over a period of time
Examples
“Sustaining economic growth while protecting the environment is a major challenge.”
“The building sustained minor damage during the storm.”
“Long-term funding is necessary to sustain the project.”
Band 8 sentence
“Policies that encourage investment in renewable energy are essential if a country is to sustain long-term economic development.”
Collocations
- sustain growth
- sustainable development
- sustain damage
Word family
sustain verbsustainable adjectivesustainability noun
Common mistakes
sustain from→sustain / be sustained by
use 'sustainable' when a verb is needed→sustain
Say it for a higher band
5keep→6maintain→7+sustain
Synonyms
maintain
Easily confused
maintain
“It's difficult to maintain a high grade point average while working full-time.”
Related words
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In Sublist 8
Learn it with its set