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sustain

/səˈsteɪn/ verb B2
  1. To maintain, or keep in existence. (transitive) · The professor had trouble sustaining students’ interest until the end of her lectures.· The city came under sustained attack by enemy forces.
  2. To provide for or nourish. (transitive) · provisions to sustain an army
  3. To encourage or sanction (something). (transitive)
  4. To experience or suffer (an injury, etc.). (transitive) · The building sustained major damage in the earthquake.
  5. To confirm, prove, or corroborate; to uphold. (transitive) · to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition
  6. To allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid.
  7. To keep from falling; to bear; to uphold; to support. · A foundation sustains the superstructure; an animal sustains a load; a rope sustains a weight.
  8. To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate.

He/she/it sustains · Past sustained · Past participle sustained · -ing form sustaining

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Verb forms

Base form
sustain
He/she/it
sustains
Past
sustained
Past participle
sustained
-ing form
sustaining

From the library

To this dumb language, which was so unintelligible to others, she answered by throwing her whole soul into the expression of her countenance, and in this manner were the conversations sustained between the blooming girl and the helpless invalid, whose body could scarcely be called a living one, but who, nevertheless, possessed a fund of knowledge and penetration, united with a will as powerful as ever although clogged by a body rendered utterly incapable of obeying its impulses.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 607 · C1
The bandit gazed on this scene with amazement; he was evidently accustomed to see his prisoners tremble before him, and yet here was one whose gay temperament was not for a moment altered; as for Franz, he was enchanted at the way in which Albert had sustained the national honor in the presence of the bandit.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 408 · C1
“Ah, you shall see; I promise you I will sustain my part to admiration.”
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 603 · C1
Noirtier the unwelcome meal that sustains his pitiful existence.
The Count of Monte Cristo, p. 520 · C1

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Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.