Maintain vs Certain - What's the difference?
maintain | certain |
(obsolete) To support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action.
*:
*:And thenne he asked leue & wente oute of his heremytage for to mayntene his neuewe ageynst the myghty Erle / and so hit happed that this man that lyeth here dede dyd so moche by his wysedome and hardynes that the Erle was take and thre of his lordes by force of this dede man
To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.).
*, chapter=17
, title= *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 5, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport
, title= *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-03, author=Nancy Langston, volume=101, issue=2, page=98
, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= To declare or affirm (a clause) to be true; to assert.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 19, author=Josh Halliday, work=the Guardian
, title= Sure, positive, not doubting.
(obsolete) Determined; resolved.
* Milton
Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
* Bible, Dan. ii. 45
Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
* Dryden
* Shakespeare
Unfailing; infallible.
* Mead
Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
* Bible, Ex. xvi. 4
Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons.
* Bible, Luke v. 12
* Macaulay
Having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.
* Bible, Acts xxiii. 12
* , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=3
As a verb maintain
is to support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action.As an adjective certain is
sure, positive, not doubting.As a determiner certain is
having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.maintain
English
Verb
(en verb)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}
QPR 2-3 Man City, passage=Mancini's men were far from their best but dug in to earn a 10th win in 11 league games and an eighth successive victory in all competitions to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the table.}}
Mining the Boreal North, passage=Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.}}
Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?, passage=She maintains that the internet should face similar curbs to TV because young people are increasingly living online. "It's totally different, someone at Google watching the video from the comfort of their office in San Francisco to someone from a council house in London, where this video is happening right outside their front door."}}
Derived terms
* maintainabilityAntonyms
* (to keep up) abandonAnagrams
*certain
English
Adjective
(wikipedia certain) (en adjective)- I was certain of my decision.
- However, I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom.
- The dream is certain , and the interpretation thereof sure.
- Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.
- Virtue that directs our ways / Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
- Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
- I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
- The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.
- It came to pass when he was in a certain city.
- About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace and decorum.
Synonyms
* See alsoAntonyms
* (not doubting) uncertain * (sure to happen) impossible, incidentalDerived terms
* certainlyDeterminer
(en determiner)- Certain of the Jews banded together.
citation, passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”}}