What's the difference between maintain and retain?

Maintain


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To hold or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; to uphold; to keep up; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain a fence or a railroad; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present reputation.
  • (v. t.) To keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish.
  • (v. t.) To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail.
  • (v. t.) To bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed.
  • (v. t.) To affirm; to support or defend by argument.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This would disrupt and prevent Isis from maintaining stable and reliable sources of income.
  • (2) Despite their absence, photoreceptors maintained a normal rate of OS assembly.
  • (3) It is likely that trunk mobility is necessary to maintain integrity of SI joint and that absence of such mobility compromises SI joint structure in many paraplegics.
  • (4) Nasotracheal intubation has been well established as a method for maintaining an artificial airway in children.
  • (5) At the same time the duodenum can be isolated from the stomach and maintained under constant stimulus by a continual infusion at regulated pressure, volume and temperature into the distal cannula.
  • (6) Postpartum management is directed toward decreasing vasospasm and central nervous system irritability and maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance.
  • (7) While they may always be encumbered by censorship in a way that HBO is not, the success of darker storylines, antiheroes and the occasional snow zombie will not be lost in an entertainment industry desperate to maintain its share of the audience.
  • (8) Four patients died while maintained on PD; three deaths were due to complications of liver failure within the first 4 months of PD and the fourth was due to empyema after 4 years of PD.
  • (9) Subunits maintained under the above ionic conditions were compared with 30S and 50S particles at low (6 mM) magnesium concentration with respect to the reactivity of individual ribosomal proteins to lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination.
  • (10) Although temazepam was effective for maintaining sleep with short-term use, there was rapid development of tolerance for this effect with intermediate-term use.
  • (11) This suggests that molars do not maintain a fixed relationship to incisors over time, and extreme care must be taken to standardize an experiment to a specific body weight when using this method.
  • (12) For enrolled nurses an increase in "Intrinsic Job Satisfaction" was less well maintained and no differences were found over time on "Patient Focus".
  • (13) The birds were maintained at a constant temperature in, dim green light.
  • (14) The difference in the volume of diuresis was maintained after intravenous injection of 20 mg of frusemide.
  • (15) These levels are sufficient to maintain normal in vivo rates of mRNA and rRNA synthesis, but the average density of packing of polymerases on DNA is considerably less than the maximum density predicted by Miller and Bakken (1972), suggesting that initiation of polymerases of DNA is a limiting factor in the control of transcription.
  • (16) As total pancreatectomy markedly reduces the pancreatic hormone level, leading to a mortal hypoglycaemia, we attempted to maintain plasma glucose within the normal range by constant I.V.
  • (17) The resistance of GSA 65 to proteolytic degradation, together with previous immunofluorescence data that indicate the antigen is an integral part of the G. lamblia cyst wall, suggests that this molecule may play a role in maintaining the integrity of the cyst in vivo.
  • (18) The return of NE to normal levels after one month is consistent with the observation that LH-lesioned rats are by one month postlesion no longer hypermetabolic, but display levels of heat production appropriate to the reduced body weight they then maintain.
  • (19) The UNTR rats were subjected to a continuous food restriction to maintain body weights equal to those of the TR rats.
  • (20) During periods of wet steam it was impossible to maintain consistent sterility of the mouse pellets even using a cycle of 126 degrees C for 60 minutes.

Retain


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To continue to hold; to keep in possession; not to lose, part with, or dismiss; to retrain from departure, escape, or the like.
  • (v. t.) To keep in pay; to employ by a preliminary fee paid; to hire; to engage; as, to retain a counselor.
  • (v. t.) To restrain; to prevent.
  • (v. i.) To belong; to pertain.
  • (v. i.) To keep; to continue; to remain.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The femoral component, made of Tivanium with titanium mesh attached to it by a new process called diffusion bonding, retains superalloy fatigue strength characteristics.
  • (2) But RWE admitted it had often only been able to retain customers with expired contracts by offering them new deals with more favourable conditions.
  • (3) Their particular electrophoretic mobility was retained.
  • (4) The cis isomer was retained longer in liver, particularly in mitochondria, but had low retention in that portion of the endoplasmic reticulum isolated as the rough membrane fraction.
  • (5) Despite this alteration in subcellular distribution, the mutant polypeptide retained the ability to induce fibroblast transformation by several parameters, including the ability to display anchorage-independent growth.
  • (6) They retained the ability to make this discrimination when the coloured stimuli were placed against a background bright enough to saturate the rods.3.
  • (7) By adjustment to the swaying movements of the horse, the child feels how to retain straightening alignment, symmetry and balance.
  • (8) ITV retained its quasi-feudal structure until the 1990s.
  • (9) This "paradox of redistribution" was certainly observable in Britain, where Welfare retained its status as one of the 20th century's most exalted creations, even while those claiming benefits were treated with ever greater contempt.
  • (10) Ultraviolet difference spectrophotometry indicates that the inactivated enzyme retains its capacity for binding the nucleotide substrates whereas the spectral perturbation characteristic of 3-phosphoglycerate binding is abolished in the modified enzyme.
  • (11) In a newspaper interview last month, Shapps said the BBC needed to tackle what he said was a culture of secrecy, waste and unbalanced reporting if it hoped to retain the full £3.6bn raised by the licence fee after the current Royal Charter expires in 2016.
  • (12) The most serious complications following operative treatment are retained bile duct calculi (2.8%), wound infection and biliary fistulae.
  • (13) Bivalent F(ab')(2) also retains its insulin-like effects.
  • (14) In this study, a technique is described by which large obturators can be retained with an acrylic resin head plate.
  • (15) At the end of the dusting period those animals treated with normally charged dust had significantly more chrysotile retained in their lungs than animals exposed to discharged dust.
  • (16) The fact that the security service was in possession of and retained the copy tape until the early summer of 1985 and did not bring it to the attention of Mr Stalker is wholly reprehensible,” he wrote.
  • (17) Formula fed infants retained more nitrogen and gained weight faster.
  • (18) As an extension of the previous study which indicated that mesoglea is a primitive basement membrane which has retained some characteristics of interstitial extracellular matrix, the present study was undertaken to analyze the role of mesoglea components during head regeneration in Hydra vulgaris.
  • (19) The resulting cell lines have a stable phenotype and retain the changes which result from transformation even after extended passaging.
  • (20) Protein synthesis in cell-free extracts from resistant or susceptible bacteria was equally susceptible to inhibition by Cd(2+), but spheroplasts from resistant bacteria retained their resistance.