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vocabulary
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sustain
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

sustain as in:  sustained by her faith

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We sustained ourselves on bread and water.
sustained = supported
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    The donation will sustain our efforts to help the homeless.
    sustain = support
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    The court sustained the motion
    sustained = supported
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    They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight.  (source)
    sustain = support
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Show 10 more with 9 word variations
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    Such ecological diversity sustained an astonishing diversity of plant and animal life.  (source)
    sustained = supported
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    This, I figured, could sustain me for three or four more days if need be, but then what would I do?  (source)
    sustain = support (provide necessities for)
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    That the Career Tributes who survive the bloodbath will divide up most of these life-sustaining spoils.  (source)
    sustaining = supporting
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    Together, my relatives form an alliance that represents a genuine and enduring love of family, one that sustains them through difficulties and gives them reasons to celebrate during good times.†  (source)
    sustains = provides support or necessities
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    Very slight matters were enough to gall him in his sensitive mood, and the sight of Dorothea driving past him while he felt himself plodding along as a poor devil seeking a position in a world which in his present temper offered him little that he coveted, made his conduct seem a mere matter of necessity, and took away the sustainment of resolve.†  (source)
    sustainment = provision of support or necessities
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    I told her, I said, 'Celia, you have to be a League member or a sustainer to participate.†  (source)
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    ...from Charlotte Bronte. "The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself."  (source)
    unsustained = not supported
    standard prefix: 'The prefix "un-" in unsustained means not and reverses the meaning of sustained. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.'
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    Her hand sustain'd a bow;  (source)
    sustain'd = provided
    unconventional spelling: More commonly, this is spelled sustained.
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    With slow, deliberate strokes, I start typing the newsletter: Sarah Shelby to marry Robert Pryor; please attend a baby-clothes showing by Mary Katherine Simpson; a tea in honor of our loyal sustainers.†  (source)
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    There, too, was the woman whose image had sustained him.  (source)
    sustained = supported
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sustain as in:  sustained through the ages

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For twenty years, the company has sustained its leading position in creating special effects for films.
sustained = maintained through time
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    She started the project with optimism, but she did not sustain the effort required to complete it.
    sustain = continue
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    We sustained the diplomatic negotiations as long as possible
    sustained = continued through time
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    He sustained a perfect 4.0 grade-point average through high school and college.  (source)
    sustained = maintained through time
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Show 10 more with 7 word variations
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    Her answer was sustained as the numbness of the dark waned and outlined the various shapes, big and small, on the bedside table.  (source)
    sustained = maintained or continued
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    But it was unsustainable.†  (source)
    unsustainable = not able to continue
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unsustainable means not and reverses the meaning of sustainable. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    There was never a question that Cherry Hill wasn't built as a sustainable community for its families.  (source)
    sustainable = capable of continuing through time
    standard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
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    I'd pop free for a first down now and again, but we couldn't sustain anything.  (source)
    sustain = continue through time
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    On the one hand, there were ladies no less important than the two Miss Gunns, the wine merchant's daughters from Lytherly, dressed in the height of fashion, with the tightest skirts and the shortest waists, and gazed at by Miss Ladbrook (of the Old Pastures) with a shyness not unsustained by inward criticism.†  (source)
    unsustained = not continued through time
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unsustained means not and reverses the meaning of sustained. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    We can spend sixty-eight thousand dollars per tb patient in New York City, but if you start giving watches or radios to patients here, suddenly the international health community jumps on you for creating nonsustainable projects.†  (source)
    nonsustainable = unable to continue
    standard prefix: The prefix "non-" in nonsustainable means not and reverses the meaning of sustainable. This is the same pattern you see in words like nonfat, nonfiction, and nonprofit.
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    His lungs dilated and sank as if he were inhaling a warm moist unsustaining air and he smelt again the moist warm air which hung in the bath in Clongowes above the sluggish turf-coloured water.†  (source)
    unsustaining = not continuing through time
    standard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unsustaining means not and reverses the meaning of sustaining. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
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    The playful romance we had sustained in the cave has disappeared out in the open, under the hot sun, with the threat of Cato looming over us.  (source)
    sustained = maintained or continued
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    I think it's unsustainable," I say.†  (source)
    unsustainable = not able to continue
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    Renewable energy, sustainable resources, a fixed population.  (source)
    sustainable = capable of continuing through time
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sustain as in:  sustained wounds

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Every building within two miles of the center of the earthquake sustained damage.
sustained = suffered
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
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    She sustained a wound in the left arm, but she is expected to recover quickly.
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    It was the Führer's chin that sustained the blow.  (source)
    sustained = suffered from
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    One bomber sustained seventeen hits from friendly planes, or possibly from its own waist guns.  (source)
    sustained = suffered
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Show 10 more with 6 word variations
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    Here I sustain'd The visage, Hyperion!†  (source)
    unconventional spelling: This is more commonly spelled sustained.
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    A point will come when the cover isn't sustainable.†  (source)
    standard suffix: The suffix "-able" means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable.
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    Later the doctors would speculate that when Dad, Luke and Benjamin had wrestled Shawn to the ground—and he'd sustained a concussion—he was already in critical condition.  (source)
    sustained = suffered
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    They're doing great, but the available farmland isn't enough for sustainability.†  (source)
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    How did you sustain those injuries?  (source)
    sustain = get (suffer)
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    The practical examination took place in the afternoon on the lawn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where students were required to ... feed and clean out a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns;  (source)
    sustaining = suffering
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    him Jove with mighty hand Sustain'd, and with him forward urg'd the crowd.†  (source)
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    My heart has been fluttering around my chest for so long now that this variety of intoxication almost seems sustainable—but only almost.†  (source)
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    You'd walk down McDowell Street, and half the people you passed seemed to be nursing an injury sustained in local combat.  (source)
    sustained = suffered
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    He had worked on debt sustainability at the IMF for a few years.†  (source)
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rare meaning

Show 3 with this contextual meaning
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    BRIGGS: Objection. JUDGE: Sustained.  (source)
    Sustained = an objection is upheld by a judge
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    Sustained.  (source)
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    Sustained.  (source)
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Show 4 more
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    Sustained!  (source)
    Sustained = an objection is upheld by a judge
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    Sustained!  (source)
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    Sustained.  (source)
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    Sustained.  (source)
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