What is the difference between retain and maintain

Sign up Sign in. English US. Question about English UK. What is the difference between retain and maintain? Feel free to just provide example sentences. Report copyright infringement.

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Read more comments. Retain has more the idea of keep. You should retain your tickets for inspection. These are only some meanings. Retained works in the first OP sentence. Retained is better in the second. Maintain sounds more active. It has more the idea of someone making an effort. Retain just means that the shop has not lost its atmosphere. Kept would work in both sentences. In fact, I'd probably say kept personally. Last edited: Feb 21, Maintain - to keep in the original state or as close as possible.

Sustain - to prevent from ceasing to exist Retain - to keep as rhitagawr said. Maintained and retained work in the first OP sentence. To aid, comfort, or relieve; to vindicate. To endure without failing or yielding; to bear up under; as, to sustain defeat and disappointment.

To suffer; to bear; to undergo. To allow the prosecution of; to admit as valid; to sanction; to continue; not to dismiss or abate; as, the court sustained the action or suit. To prove; to establish by evidence; to corroborate or confirm; to be conclusive of; as, to sustain a charge, an accusation, or a proposition.

One who, or that which, upholds or sustains; a sustainer. Example Sentences: 1 In this study of ten consecutive patients sustaining molten metal injuries to the lower extremity who were treated with excision and grafting, treatment with compression Unna paste boot was compared with that with conventional dressing.