Maintain
Refrain
Refrain verb - Resist doing something.
Maintain and refrain are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Maintain" instead a verb "Refrain".
Nearby Words: refrained, refraining
Common collocations
| sense | maintain sense | refrain sense |
| form | maintain form | refrain form |
| identities | maintain identities | refrain identities |
Both words in one sentence
- Also while restraining orders in TV usually require the person to maintain a minimum distance from another, in reality restraining orders usually order the person to refrain from contacting, harassing, following or stalking the other person, something that often doesn't deter a determined stalker.
Source: Hollywood Restraining Order -
No longer applies during the Episode IV campaign and onwards, wherein Sally is a couple of years older and a bit more of a smart mouth, though they still refrain from using any of the harsher words in an effort to maintain the comic's PG rating.
Source: Webcomic / Darths & Droids
Cite this Source
Refrain and Maintain. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/maintain/refrain
Maintain & Refrain. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/maintain/refrain>.
Refrain or Maintain. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/maintain/refrain.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "maintain" and "refrain" have occurred on timeline