(sustains, sustaining, sustained)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If you sustain something, you continue it or maintain it for a period of time.
But he has sustained his fierce social conscience from young adulthood through old age...
...a period of sustained economic growth throughout 1995.
VERB: V n, V-ed
2.
If you sustain something such as a defeat, loss, or injury, it happens to you. (FORMAL)
Every aircraft in there has sustained some damage...
A seventeen-year-old tourist died late last night of injuries sustained in yesterday's bomb blast.
VERB: V n, V-ed
3.
If something sustains you, it supports you by giving you help, strength, or encouragement. (FORMAL)
The cash dividends they get from the cash crop would sustain them during the lean season...
VERB: V n