Avoid and Maintain

avoid

Stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something.
- usage: "Her former friends now avoid her"
Prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening.
- usage: "Let's avoid a confrontation"; "head off a confrontation"; "avert a strike"
- synonyms: debar, forefend, forfend, obviate, deflect, avert, head off, stave off, fend off, ward off
Refrain from doing something.
- usage: "She refrains from calling her therapist too often"; "He should avoid publishing his wife's memories"
Refrain from certain foods or beverages.
- usage: "I keep off drugs"; "During Ramadan, Muslims avoid tobacco during the day"
- synonyms: keep off
Declare invalid.
- usage: "The contract was annulled"; "void a plea"
- synonyms: invalidate, annul, quash, void, nullify

(a.) To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute.
(a.) To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
(v.i.) To become void or vacant.
(a.) To get rid of.
(a.) To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
(a.) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter.
(a.) To empty.
(v.i.) To retire; to withdraw.
(a.) To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

maintain

(v.) ()
- synonyms: keep, hold
Keep in safety and protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction.
- usage: "We preserve these archeological findings"; "The old lady could not keep up the building"; "children must be taught to conserve our national heritage"; "The museum curator conserved the ancient manuscripts"
- synonyms: conserve, preserve, keep up
Supply with necessities and support.
- usage: "She alone sustained her family"; "The money will sustain our good cause"; "There's little to earn and many to keep"
- synonyms: sustain, keep
State categorically.
- synonyms: assert, asseverate
Have and exercise.
- usage: "wield power and authority"
- synonyms: wield, exert
Maintain for use and service.
- usage: "I keep a car in the countryside"; "She keeps an apartment in Paris for her shopping trips"
- synonyms: keep
Maintain by writing regular records.
- usage: "keep a diary"; "maintain a record"; "keep notes"
- synonyms: keep
State or assert.
- usage: "He maintained his innocence"
- synonyms: defend
Support against an opponent.
- usage: "The appellate court upheld the verdict"
- synonyms: uphold
Stick to correctly or closely.
- usage: "The pianist kept time with the metronome"; "keep count"; "I cannot keep track of all my employees"
- synonyms: observe, keep

(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 affirm; to support or defend by argument.
(v.t.) To bear the expense of; to support; to keep up; to supply with what is needed.
(v.t.) To continue; not to suffer to cease or fail.
(v.t.) To keep possession of; to hold and defend; not to surrender or relinquish.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary