maintains
Saymayn-TAYNZ/meɪnˈteɪnz/
- 1Third-person singular present of maintain.
He maintains that the figures were accurate despite the criticism.
The trust maintains several historic buildings across the county.
Note
Agreement does the work here: a singular subject in the present (he, she, the trust) takes the -s, while I, you, we and they keep the bare maintain. What follows the verb shows which meaning is in play. A that-clause makes it an assertion (he maintains that the figures were accurate). A noun object means keeping something up or in good repair. The old sense of backing a person is obsolete.
maintains is a form of maintain
maintain, verb: To keep something in the same state or condition; to preserve or uphold it. Full entry
- Forms
- maintainmaintains he/she/itmaintaining -ing formmaintained past tense, past participle
- Spelling
- maintain → maintains: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with maintains, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.