sustenance

C2+ Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈsʌstənəns/ UK /ˈsʌstənəns/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
food and drink regarded as necessary to sustain life

The refugees lacked even basic sustenance after the siege.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · food and drink regarded as... nourishment nutriment food provisions fare subsistence support

Opposites

starvation deprivation

Word family

Related forms sustain sustainable subsistence

Etymology

From Old French sustenance ('support, maintenance'), from Latin sustinere ('to hold up, support'), from sub- ('up from below') + tenere ('to hold').

sustenance Old French tenēre Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

# sustenance

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈsʌstənəns
**IPA (UK):** ˈsʌstənəns

## Meanings
1. food and drink regarded as necessary to sustain life

## Examples
- The refugees lacked even basic sustenance after the siege.

## Synonyms
- nourishment
- nutriment
- food
- provisions
- fare
- subsistence
- support

## Antonyms
- starvation
- deprivation

## Related Forms
- sustain
- sustainable
- subsistence

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sustenance
- Root: tenēre

## Etymology
From Old French sustenance ('support, maintenance'), from Latin sustinere ('to hold up, support'), from sub- ('up from below') + tenere ('to hold').

## AI Etymology
Sustenance comes from Old French sustenance ('support, maintenance'), from Latin sustinere ('to hold up, support'), from sub- ('up from below') + tenere ('to hold'). The prefix supplies the first semantic turn, while the base carries the lexical core of the word. As a noun, it carries the sense "food and drink regarded as necessary to sustain life", with the older formation still helping explain the modern use. Relevant historical forms include Old French sustenance and Latin tenēre. Related words include sustain, sustainable, subsistence.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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sustenance

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