sustenance

noun

sus·​te·​nance ˈsə-stə-nən(t)s 

1

a

: means of support, maintenance, or subsistence : living

b

: food, provisions

also : nourishment

2

a

: the act of sustaining : the state of being sustained

b

: a supplying or being supplied with the necessaries of life

3

: something that gives support, endurance, or strength

Synonyms

• aliment
• food
• nourishment
• pabulum

Examples of sustenance in a Sentence

Tree bark provides deer with sustenance in periods of drought.

The village depends on the sea for sustenance.

She draws spiritual sustenance from daily church attendance.

Recent Examples on the Web

Grubhub: Super Bowl deals at 7-Eleven, Pizza Hut and Popeyes The delivery service has several deals for football fans in search of game-day sustenance. —Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2025

She was committed to traditional foods—as sustenance, pleasure, and social glue. —Charles Bethea, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2025

This visceral metamorphosis, which haunts the pages of her memoir Black Milk: On Writing, Motherhood, and the Harem Within (2007; English translation 2011), transmutes nature’s most fundamental symbol of maternal sustenance into a potent metaphor for creative anxiety born of postpartum despair. —Fidan Cheikosman, JSTOR Daily, 1 Jan. 2025

Their findings—which are revealing shifts different from what most of the world is experiencing with sea-level rise—will help local communities that depend on these waters for travel and sustenance. —Avery Schuyler Nunn, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from sustenir

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

sustenance

noun

sus·​te·​nance ˈsəs-tə-nən(t)s 

1

a

: means of support, maintenance, or existence

b

: nourishment sense 1

2

: the act of sustaining : the state of being sustained

especially : a supplying with the necessities of life

3

: something that gives support, help, or strength