Dictionary

sustain en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /səˈsteɪn/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• /səˈstæɪn/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
• (California) audio

Etymology

From Middle English susteinen, sustenen, from Old French sustenir (French soutenir), from Latin sustineō, sustinēre (“to uphold”), from sub- (“from below, up”) + teneō (“hold”, verb).

Meanings

1. A mechanism which can be used to hold a note, as the right pedal on a piano.
   • To call this music bland is to ignore the down-the-drain vocal fade-aways, the extended sax sustains […] 2011, Chuck Eddy, Rock and Roll Always Forgets, page 265:
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping) Clipping of sustainability.
   alt of sustainability

Forms

sustain en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /səˈsteɪn/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• /səˈstæɪn/ (Australia, New-Zealand)
• (California) audio

Etymology

From Middle English susteinen, sustenen, from Old French sustenir (French soutenir), from Latin sustineō, sustinēre (“to uphold”), from sub- (“from below, up”) + teneō (“hold”, verb).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To maintain, or keep in existence.
   • Sam managed to sustain his erection for two straight hours.
   • The professor had trouble sustaining students’ interest until the end of her lectures.
   • All the beliefs, habits, tastes, emotions, mental attitudes that characterize our time are really designed to sustain the mystique of the Party and prevent the true nature of present-day society from being perceived. 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 9, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001:
   • The city came under sustained attack by enemy forces.
2. (transitive) To provide for or nourish.
   • provisions to sustain an army
   • Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 9:21:
   • We rode five farsakhs today, sustained by a single bowl of curds and tortured by the wooden saddles. 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part 2, page 59:
3. (transitive) To encourage or sanction (something).
4. (transitive) To experience or suffer (an injury, etc.).
   • […] if you omit The offer of this time, I cannot promise But that you shall sustain moe new disgraces, With these you bear already. 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
   • Shall Turnus then such endless Toil sustain, In fighting Fields, and conquer Towns in vain: 1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 592-593:
   • The building sustained major damage in the earthquake.
5. (transitive) To confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold.
   • After the vote is taken, the Chairman states that the decision of the Chair is sustained, or reversed, as the case may be. 1876, Henry Martyn Robert, Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies, Chicago: Griggs, published 1885, Section 61 (e), page 167:
   • to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition
6. (of a judge) To allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid.
7. To keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support.
   • A foundation sustains the superstructure; an animal sustains a load; a rope sustains a weight.
8. To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate.
   • His Sons, who seek the Tyrant to sustain, And long for Arbitrary Lords again, 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 1122-1123:
   • When I desir’d their leave that I might pity him, they took from me the use of mine own house, charg’d me on pain of perpetual displeasure neither to speak of him, entreat for him, nor any way sustain him. c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
9. (of a drum or its sound) To be a long-lasting sound.
   • I like how long that drum sustains.

Forms

Antonyms

overrule

Coordinates

incur

Deriveds

sustaining program · sustainwash · sustainability · self-sustaining · sustainment · sustainable · sustaining · sustainer · sustainwashing · sustainedly

Synonyms

hold

Translations (82)

fi pitää yllä (to provide for or nourish something) · bg издържам (to provide for or nourish something) · is halda við (to maintain something) · fr maintenir (to maintain something) · de tragen (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · es sostener (to maintain something) · cmn 供养 (to provide for or nourish something) · no pådra seg (to experience or suffer) · fr subvenir (to provide for or nourish something) · bg потвърждавам (to maintain something) · fi huoltaa (to provide for or nourish something) · fi ylläpitää (to provide for or nourish something) · nl in stand houden (to maintain something) · de versorgen (to provide for or nourish something) · bg поддържам (to maintain something) · es sostener (to provide for or nourish something) · pt suster (to maintain something) · mk и́здржи (to provide for or nourish something) · de unterstützen (to aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate) · ru содержа́ть (to maintain something) · ar أَبْقَى (to maintain something) · hu fenntart (to maintain something) · de stützen (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · ar عَالَ (to provide for or nourish something) · de beibehalten (to maintain something) · de aufrechterhalten (to confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold) · fi pitää yllä (to maintain something) · nl onderhouden (to provide for or nourish something) · tr muhafaza etmek (to maintain something) · de aufrechterhalten (to maintain something) · de erleiden (to experience or suffer) · el συντηρώ (to maintain something) · hu helyt ad (law: to allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid) · ru подде́рживать (to maintain something) · gl soster (to maintain something) · ru обеспе́чивать (to provide for or nourish something) · de Kraft geben (to aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate) · de halten (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · es sustentar (to encourage or sanction) · sa यच्छति (to maintain something) · de stützen (to confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold) · ru содержа́ть (to provide for or nourish something) · cy cynnal (to maintain something) · la sustineō (to maintain something) · cmn 维持 (to maintain something) · nb opprettholde (to maintain something) · pl utrzymywać (to provide for or nourish something) · fi ruokkia (to provide for or nourish something) · de stattgeben (law: to allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid) · pl podtrzymać (to maintain something) · ga cothaigh (to provide for or nourish something) · es sostener (to encourage or sanction) · zza ravêrnen (to maintain something) · es sustentar (to provide for or nourish something) · mi ukauka (to maintain something) · es sostener (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · mk за́чува (to maintain something) · ca sostenir (to maintain something) · de zugefügt werden (to experience or suffer) · sv vidhålla (to maintain something) · pt sustentar (to provide for or nourish something) · de zuziehen (to experience or suffer) · cs udržovat (to maintain something) · ar يَعُولُ (to provide for or nourish something) · tr sürdürmek (to maintain something) · da underholde (to provide for or nourish something) · de unterhalten (to provide for or nourish something) · fi ylläpitää (to maintain something) · de unterhalten (to maintain something) · sa यच्छति (to provide for or nourish something) · de aufrechterhalten (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · mk о́држи (to maintain something) · da vedholde (to maintain something) · es sustentar (to maintain something) · fi ravita (to provide for or nourish something) · pl podtrzymać (to provide for or nourish something) · it sostenere (to maintain something) · da forsørge (to provide for or nourish something) · ga iompair (to maintain something) · es sustentar (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · ang beran (to keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support) · et alal hoidma (to maintain something)