MEANING
1. To maintain something’s existence, operation, or strength.
2. To experience or bear an injury, loss, or other adverse impact.
3. To uphold or affirm a claim, objection, or decision as valid.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- sustain hope
- sustain a community
On the page
The letters sustained hope through the winter.
A network of small obligations sustained the community.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- sustain
- Past tense
- sustained
- Past participle
- sustained
- Present participle
- sustaining
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- sustain
- Present continuous
- am/is/are sustaining
- Present perfect
- have/has sustained
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been sustaining
- Past
- sustained
- Past continuous
- was/were sustaining
- Past perfect
- had sustained
- Past perfect continuous
- had been sustaining
- Future
- will sustain
- Future continuous
- will be sustaining
- Future perfect
- will have sustained
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been sustaining
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: sustain; sustains; sustained; sustained; sustaining Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: sustains.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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