undermaintain

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verb

To maintain inadequately; to allow to fall into disrepair.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

verbundermaintain (third-person singular simple present undermaintains, present participle undermaintaining, simple past and past participle undermaintained)

present singular third person undermaintains · participle present undermaintaining · participle past undermaintained · past undermaintained

  1. transitiveTo maintain inadequately; to allow to fall into disrepair.

    For some years locomotives and coaches have been overworked and undermaintained to a degree without precedent in British railway history, and the leeway in maintenance now to be made up is very great.

    1945 November snd December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 329
    1 more example

    The cracking sound, he explained, as far as I, a non-plumber, could understand, was the sound of the overworked, undermaintained and weirdly installed heating unit’s core rupturing and spilling water into the basement.

    2007 February 18, Jake Mooney, “A Case of the Shivers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

undermaintain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undermaintain

MLA

“undermaintain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undermaintain. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “undermaintain,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/undermaintain.

Source: undermaintain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.