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Maintain vs Remain - What's the difference?

maintain | remain |

As verbs the difference between maintain and remain

is that maintain is to support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action while remain is to stay behind while others withdraw; to be left after others have been removed or destroyed; to be left after a number or quantity has been subtracted or cut off; to be left as not included or comprised.

As a noun remain is

state of remaining; stay.

maintain

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (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= 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.}}
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 5, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= 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.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-03, author=Nancy Langston, volume=101, issue=2, page=98
  • , magazine=(American Scientist) , title= 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.}}
  • 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= 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

    * maintainability

    Antonyms

    * (to keep up) abandon

    Anagrams

    *

    remain

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • State of remaining; stay.
  • That which is left; relic; remainder; -- chiefly in the plural.
  • (plural only) remains : That which is left of a human being after the life is gone; relics; a dead body.
  • The posthumous works or productions, especially literary works of one who is dead.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To stay behind while others withdraw; to be left after others have been removed or destroyed; to be left after a number or quantity has been subtracted or cut off; to be left as not included or comprised.
  • * Bible, (w) vi. 12
  • Gather up the fragments that remain .
  • * (John Locke)
  • Thatremains to be proved.
  • To continue unchanged in place, form, or condition, or undiminished in quantity; to abide; to stay; to endure; to last.
  • * Bible, (Genesis) xxxviii. 11
  • Remain a widow at thy father's house.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.}}
  • To await; to be left to.
  • (copulative) To continue in a state of being.
  • Synonyms

    * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Derived terms

    * remain to be seen

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *