sustained
sus·tained/səˈsteɪnd/adjective, verb
sustained is spelled S-U-S-T-A-I-N-E-D: 9 letters and 2 syllables (sus·tained). It appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sustained means “Held continuously at a certain level” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sustained?
| Letters | 9: S-U-S-T-A-I-N-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: sus·tained |
| In writing | 15 times per million words; the 5,206th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sustained?
Sustained appears 15 times per million words in written English, the 5,206th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sustained?
- /səˈsteɪnd/
Sustained has 2 syllables, split sus·tained in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-sustained.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sustained
- more sustained comparative
- most sustained superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sustained mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Held continuously at a certain level.
- 2
Held at a certain pitch.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of sustain
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sustained in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense held at a certain level:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | nicht nachlassend, anhaltend, ununterbrochen, kontinuierlich |
| Spanish | sustentado, sostenido |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.