different between sustaining vs sustenance

English

Verb

sustaining

1. present participle of sustain

Noun

sustaining (plural sustainings)

1. The process by which something is sustained or upheld.

Adjective

sustaining (comparative more sustaining, superlative most sustaining)

1. That sustains, supports or provides sustenance.
   • 1641, John Milton, Of Prelatical Episcopacy, London: Thomas Underhill, p. 24,^[2]

     […] eternall life, the end of all our wearisome labours, and all our sustaining hopes.

   • 1771, Elizabeth Griffith, The History of Lady Barton, London: T. Davies & T. Cadell, Volume 2, Letter 31, p. 21,^[3]

     I turned quick to look for him, and saw him coming towards me, with another gentleman—But I saw no more, my senses forsook me; in spite of Maria’s sustaining arm, I fell motionless on the ground.

   • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter 58,^[4]

     Sometimes, I had proceeded restlessly from place to place, stopping nowhere; sometimes, I had lingered long in one spot. I had had no purpose, no sustaining soul within me, anywhere.

   • 1929, Josephine Tey, The Man in the Queue, New York: Pocket Book, 1977, Chapter 1, p. 5,^[5]

     They laughed and chattered, and passed each other sustaining bits of chocolate in torn silver paper.

   • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming Pool Library, New York: Vintage, 1989, Chapter 8,

     […] I was thirsty & went to sit in the shade of the tea-terrace. The tea, served impractically in a glass, was refreshing, somehow muddy & more sustaining than tea I am used to.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French, from sustenir (14c) with the suffix -ance, from Vulgar Latin *sustenire, from Latin sustinere. Cf. also Late Latin sustinentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?s.t?.n?ns/

Noun

sustenance (countable and uncountable, plural sustenances)

1. Something that provides support or nourishment.

Related terms

• subsistence

Translations