Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The supporting of life or health; maintenance or means of livelihood.
- noun Something, especially food, that sustains life or health.
- noun Something that sustains something else; essential support.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An upholding; the act of bearing.
- noun The act of sustaining; support; maintenance; subsistence: as, the sustenance of life.
- noun That which supports life; food; provisions; means of living.
- noun Synonyms Subsistence, etc. See
living .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of sustaining; support; maintenance; subsistence.
- noun That which supports life; food; victuals; provisions; means of living.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Something that provides
support ornourishment .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a source of materials to nourish the body
- noun the financial means whereby one lives
- noun the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Obama, however, seems to have drawn a kind of sustenance from the dinner.
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Obama, however, seems to have drawn a kind of sustenance from the dinner.
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Obama, however, seems to have drawn a kind of sustenance from the dinner.
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The prospect of cannibalism as a means of sustenance is always disturbing.
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In arid northern and western China, to depend on the land for sustenance is to be poor.
Village Dreamers 2009
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In arid northern and western China, to depend on the land for sustenance is to be poor.
Village Dreamers 2009
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They start out as mindless drones whose only purpose seems to be to gain sustenance by consuming the living.
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The prospect of cannibalism as a means of sustenance is always disturbing.
Archive 2009-12-01 2009
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They start out as mindless drones whose only purpose seems to be to gain sustenance by consuming the living.
April « 2009 « Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009
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They start out as mindless drones whose only purpose seems to be to gain sustenance by consuming the living.
28 « April « 2009 « Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009
mikepurvis commented on the word sustenance
I love in Legally Blonde when Reese bounces into the library with that big picnic basket, and announces to Viv and Warner's study group that she "brought sustenance."
December 21, 2006
vendingmachine commented on the word sustenance
I know precisely which scene you mean, mikepurvis.
June 13, 2016