Maintain vs Sustain
Maintain and Sustain are two words in the English language that are often confused due to the similarity in their meanings and usage. Strictly speaking there is some difference between these two words.
The word ‘maintain’ is used in the sense of ‘carry on’ or ‘protect with care’ or ‘look after with care’ the sentences:
1. He maintained his physique with diligence.
2. She maintained her dignity.
In both the sentences you can see that the word ‘maintain’ is used in the sense of ‘protect with care’. The meaning of the first sentence would be ‘he protected his physique with care’ or ‘he looked after his physique with diligence’. The meaning of the second sentence would be ‘she looked after her dignity’ or ‘she protected her dignity with care’.
On the other hand the word ‘sustain’ is used in the sense of ‘receive’ or ‘undergo’ or ‘withstand’ as in the sentences:
1. He sustained injuries in the accident.
2. She sustained the effort.
In the first sentence the word ‘sustain’ is used in the sense of ‘receive’ and the meaning of the sentence would be ‘he received injuries in the accident’. In the second sentence the word ‘sustain’ is used in the sense of ‘withstand’ and the meaning of the sentence would be ‘she withstood the effort’.
It is interesting to note that both the words ‘sustain’ and ‘maintain’ are used as verbs. The word ‘maintain’ has its noun form in the word ‘maintenance’. On the other hand the word ‘sustain’ has its noun form in the word ‘sustenance’.
It is important to know that the verb ‘maintain’ is sometimes followed by the preposition ‘by’ as in the sentence ‘The garden is well maintained by the gardener’. These are the differences between the words ‘maintain’ and ‘sustain’.
This is incorrect, or at least, unusual usage.:
“In the second sentence the word ‘sustain’ is used in the sense of ‘withstand’ and the meaning of the sentence would be ‘she withstood the effort’.”
To “sustain the effort” would almost always mean to continue the effort. “Our promising sales efforts were sustained through the third quarter…”
Sustain has additional shades of meaning similar to maintain, which is why they are sometimes used interchangeably. Think of the musical use, for instance, where “the note is sustained for two bars”. SUstain can also be used as a noun in music e.g. “Dude, the sustain on that Telecaster is epic…”