maintenance man
12
2.5
- noun
- /ˈmeɪntənəns mæn/
- The maintenance man arrived quickly to fix the broken heating system in the office.
- maintenance man in an apartment
- maintenance man at a hotel
- building maintenance man
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeThe park was empty and the park maintenance man was out cleaning up.
- The park was empty and the park maintenance man was out cleaning up.
Examples
-
Then she remembered that the maintenance man should be performing such work; this wasn't her property, and the leak was really none of her business.
Fiction book (1994) -
When Leon, the maintenance man, came in, Kostas had him replace the burned-out bulb.
Fiction book (1991) -
Are you the maintenance man?
-
Yeah, sir, you might want to send a maintenance man over to that office across the way.
-
The park was empty and the park maintenance man was out cleaning up.
-
Police say that Palmer resigned from his position as a maintenance man at the church earlier this year.
Blog text (18) -
He looked in that direction and saw the maintenance man quickly walk out of view.
Fiction book (1990) -
She's got a crush on that maintenance man.
-
One of the students had pulled up the blinds to show a maintenance man picking up the books one by one from the slope outside.
Fiction book (1999) -
Do you think you're able to have the community's maintenance man come by today?
Synonyms
202
2.3
A person who repairs machines like cars and engines
47
2.7
A person who fixes and looks after things around a home or workplace
39
2.7
A person who fixes broken machines and equipment
21
3.6
A skilled worker who repairs things in houses and apartments
8
3.2
A person who repairs machines or home appliances
7
7.7
A person who repairs cars and other machines
3
4.9
A person who keeps things or traditions in good condition
1
3.9
A man who does small repair jobs around the home
1
3.2
A person who fixes clothes or shoes
1
7.7
A person who uses a wrench to fix machines
1
3.0
A person who fixes broken things, often as a job
1
6.2
A person who fixes and looks after machines and equipment
1
3.3
A woman who fixes machines, equipment, or buildings
1
4.2
A woman who fixes things and looks after equipment in a building
How Skilled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a man employed to repair and maintain equipment' is directly and compositionally derivable from 'maintenance' (repair/upkeep) + 'man' (a male person/worker). This noun+noun compound follows a common productive English pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Maintenance man is a simple name: imagine a person with a toolbox who looks after a building and fixes things. The word maintenance means 'care and repair' and man means 'a person who does the work', so the phrase came to mean 'a person who fixes and looks after machines or buildings'.