ten-, tent-, tin-, -tain, -tainment, -tenance, -tinence

1. To provide someone, or something, whatever is needed to exist, to continue, etc.: "There is not enough oxygen to sustain, or to support, life at very high altitudes."
2. To keep something in position by holding it from below: "The roof, unable to sustain the weight of all the snow, collapsed."
3. To keep someone going with emotional or moral support: "Hope sustained us during that difficult time."
4. To manage to withstand something and to continue in spite of it.
5. To experience a setback, injury, damage, loss, or defeat: "The soldier sustained several broken bones while the army was sustaining heavy losses."
6. To make something continue to exist: "The actors were sustaining the audience's interest for a long time."
7. To confirm that something is true, correct, or valid: "The report sustains the claims of those who were injured."

The fact of being sustainable; or the preservation of the overall viability and normal functioning of natural systems.

1. Capable of being used without being completely used up or destroyed; such as, sustainable energy resources or sustainable water supplies.
2. Involving methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources: "Some farmers are utilizing sustainable agriculture techniques."
3. Able to last or to continue for a long time: "We must have sustainable development, or growth, in the financial markets."
4. Describing activities that make use of the earth's living and physical resources, including humans and their technologies, cultures, and institutions, in a way that does not diminish their ability to support future generations.

Specifically, the consumption of energy in a manner that emphasizes renewable sources and the judicious use of non-renewable sources.

A method of agriculture that attempts to ensure the profitability of farms while preserving the environment.

The daily amount of oil that an individual oilfield or a group of fields can produce at a rate that can be sustained for more than 90 days.

1. Economic development maintained within acceptable levels of global resource depletion and environmental pollution.
2. A description of efforts to guide economic growth; especially, in less-developed countries, in an environmentally sound manner, with an emphasis on natural resource conservation.

A collective term for efforts to develop technological, economic, political, and social systems, so as to provide the good, services, and amenities that people need or value, at an acceptable cost, while at the same time maintaining the natural environment so that a comparable quality of life will be available to future generations.

Energy that is produced and used in ways that will support long-term human development in all its social, economic, and environmental dimensions.

That which can be held, defended, or maintained [to hold, to grasp, to have].

Holding or tending to hold firmly; persistent.