Maintenance1. (n.) The act of maintaining; sustenance; support; defense; vindication.
2. (n.) That which maintains or supports; means of sustenance; supply of necessaries and conveniences.
3. (n.) 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.
Thesaurus Entries
TLC, abidingness, age, aid, alimentation, alimony, allowance, antiquity, backing, bottling up, bread, care, carriage, carrying, conservancy, conservation, conservationism, constancy, continualness, continuance, continuation, continuity, contribution, corking up, daily bread, defeat of time, defiance of time, diuturnity, durability, durableness, duration, economic support, endowment, endurance, environmental conservation, extension, forest conservation, forest management, holding, holding in, inhibition, keep, keeping, lastingness, lengthening, livelihood, living, locking in, long standing, long-lastingness, long-livedness, longevity, maintaining, manna, meat, moral support, mothering, nourishment, nurture, paying the bills, perdurability, perennation, permanence, perpetuation, perpetuity, perseverance, persistence, prehension, preserval, preservation, price support, progress, progression, prolongation, protection, protraction, provision, psychological support, pursuance, reliance, repetition, repression, retainment, retention, retentiveness, retentivity, run, safekeeping, salt, salvage, salvation, saving, security blanket, soil conservation, stability, standing, standing treat, staying power, steadfastness, stipend, straight course, stream conservation, subsidization, subsidy, subsistence, subvention, support, supportive relationship, supportive therapy, suppression, survival, survivance, sustained action, sustaining, sustainment, sustenance, sustentation, tenacity, tender loving care, treat, uninterrupted course, unremittingness, upholding, upkeep, water conservation, way, wetlands conservation, wildlife conservation