maintaining
verb
Form of maintain , present participle of maintain.
Simple meaning
Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mayntayningSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
meɪnˈteɪnɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
present participle of maintain
Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction
present participle of maintain
To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.).
present participle of maintain
To keep in good condition and working order.
present participle of maintain
To declare or affirm (a clause) to be true; to assert.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction
Used this way, maintaining is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “maintaining” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.