maintenance JUST WRITTEN FOR YOU
/ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/ · main·te·nance
noun
- Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service. Regular maintenance of the air conditioner prevents costly breakdowns.
- A tort 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. The court dismissed the claim, finding that the plaintiff's friend had engaged in maintenance of the suit.
- Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce. The judge ordered him to pay $2,000 a month in maintenance to his ex-wife.
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Did you know? The legal sense of "maintenance" as a tort dates back to medieval English law, where third parties were prohibited from "maintaining" a suit without a legitimate interest, a concept that still influences modern family‑law terminology for spousal support.