Definition of "maintenance" in English

noun

1. Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.

2. (law) A tort and (in some jurisdictions) an offence committed when a third party who does not have a bona fide interest in a lawsuit provides help or acquires an interest to a litigant's lawsuit.

3. (law, UK) Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.

4. (law) Child support.

5. Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family.

6. (biology) The natural process which keeps an organism alive.

7. (Philippines, medicine, colloquial) Ellipsis of maintenance medicine.

8. (software engineering, attributive) Software updates that fix bugs and improve stability rather than adding new features.

   • a maintenance release; a maintenance version