Functioning and Maintenance

noun

• Process or manner of functioning or operating.
  • usage: "the power of its engine determines its operation"; "the plane's operation in high winds"; "they compared the cooking performance of each oven"; "the jet's performance conformed to high standards"
  • synonyms: operation, performance

verb

• Perform as expected when applied.
  • usage: "The washing machine won't go unless it's plugged in"; "Does this old car still run well"; "This old radio doesn't work anymore"
  • synonyms: function, work, operate, go, run
• Serve a purpose, role, or function.
  • usage: "The tree stump serves as a table"; "The female students served as a control group"; "This table would serve very well"; "His freedom served him well"; "The table functions as a desk"
  • synonyms: serve, function
• Perform duties attached to a particular office or place or function.
  • usage: "His wife officiated as his private secretary"
  • synonyms: officiate, function

adjective

• Performing or able to perform its regular function.
  • usage: "a functioning flashlight"

noun

• Activity involved in maintaining something in good working order.
  • usage: "he wrote the manual on car care"
  • synonyms: care, upkeep
• Means of maintenance of a family or group.
• Court-ordered support paid by one spouse to another after they are separated.
  • synonyms: alimony
• The act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence.
  • usage: "they were in want of sustenance"; "fishing was their main sustainment"
  • synonyms: sustenance, sustentation, sustainment, upkeep
• The unauthorized interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it (as by helping one party with money or otherwise to continue the action) so as to obstruct justice or promote unnecessary litigation or unsettle the peace of the community.
  • usage: "unlike champerty, criminal maintenance does not necessarily involve personal profit"
  • synonyms: criminal maintenance

• (n.) That which maintains or supports; means of sustenance; supply of necessaries and conveniences.
• (n.) An officious or unlawful intermeddling in a cause depending between others, by assisting either party with money or means to carry it on. See Champerty.
• (n.) The act of maintaining; sustenance; support; defense; vindication.

MAINTENANCE is the activity involved in maintaining something in good working order. May include replacement of signifcant portions of the item(s) being maintained.