How to use mainstay in a sentence

24 example sentences · noun

Mainstay means a chief support. Example: “Agriculture is the mainstay of this country’s economy.”

Examples of mainstay by meaning

nounA chief support.

Agriculture is the mainstay of this country’s economy.
At the other extreme, we have that true maid-of-all-work type, the 0-6-0, the mainstay of goods, shunting, and often of passenger work right from the earliest days to the present time.1945 November and December, H. C. Casserley, “Random Reflections on British Locomotive Types—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 319
As with most other railways, freight revenue is the mainstay of the balance sheet.1959 November, J. N. Westwood, “The Railways of Canada”, in Trains Illustrated, page 555

nounSomeone or something that can be depended on to make a regular contribution.

On the Bishops Stortford line, the crisis now seems to be over; the units designed for this service are the mainstay of the workings once again and although some of the inner suburban sets are still seen, very few L.T.S.1963 January, “Motive power miscellany”, in Modern Railways, page 65
Afternoon TV mainstays like Leila Benitez and Bobby Ledesma of Darigold Jamboree gradually gave way to teenage loveteams Vi and Bot and Guy and Pip who had legions of fans watching their shows and movies and listening to their records.2002, Pia B. Gutierrez, The changing face of the Filipino, page 35
Like show dogs, dog actors became a mainstay in European and American contexts from the early nineteenth century with the convergence of public sentiment for dogs and popular interest in training them.2004, Susan McHugh, Dog, →ISBN

More sentences with mainstay

For candidal vaginitis, various regimens of topical antifungal agents are the mainstay of treatment.From the entry candidal
The image of druids skipping around dolmens is a mainstay of Celtomania.From the entry Celtomania
A mainstay of activewear, these fabrics are also making their way into travelwear and streetwear.2010, Evelyn L. Brannon, Fashion Forecasting, New York, N.Y.: Fairchild Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 200. From the entry travelwear
A revolutionary new idea can eventually become a mainstay in our media options.2006 April 24, Pam Stein, “Innovative Media Plans”, in iMEDIA Connection, retrieved 12 Aug 2011. From the entry superstitial
Pindots, or microdots, have become a mainstay in the last few years.2006, Mary Ellen Hopkins, The It's Okay if You Sit on My Quilt Book, page 1. From the entry pindot
Until recently the mainstay of the line were four 2-8-2 + 2-8-2 Garratts, built for its opening.1960 April, H. P. White, “The Railways of Sierra Leone”, in Railway Magazine, page 284. From the entry steam
The mainstay of therapy is hydration and calciuresis with IV normal saline and furosemide and intravenous bisphosphonate therapy.2014 November 1, “Abstracts From the First Annual JADPRO Live Transforming Oncology Practice Meeting”, in Journal of the Advanced…. From the entry calciuresis
The marina was a mainstay of the neighborhood, and Mr.2007 January 7, Alex Mindlin, “For a Shuttered Marina, Some Regret, Some Relief”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11…. From the entry salsa
Home delivery is the mainstay of the business.2005, Convenience Store, page 67. From the entry newsround
Allan Blye, a CBC-TV mainstay in the early Sixties, worked as a singer, writer and straight and comedic actor.1988, Ed Gould, Entertaining Canadians: Canada's international stars, 1900-1988, Cappis Pr Pub Ltd, →ISBN. From the entry straight
To improve visibility the cars were painted up in yellow and black ‘tiger stripes’, making them a recognisable mainstay on Victoria’s rails.2023 June 28, Mitchell Toy, “History of Victorian railways included Buick and Dodge sedans”, in Herald Sun, Melbourne. From the entry tiger stripes
That was part of what made the March reopening of Balthazar, a SoHo mainstay since the height of the dot-com bubble, unusual.2021 July 17, Jacob Bernstein, “Keith McNally Stirs the Pot”, in The New York Times. From the entry dot-com bubble
The Turkmen were the mainstay of the Saljuq army but they were supplemented by Turkish slave soldiers and mercenaries, often of Kurdish ancestry.2018, The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam. From the entry Saljuq
The humble pretzel, mainstay of the local bar and the rec-room party, can now ascend to fancy-shmancier surroundings, thanks to these delicious chocolate-painted goodies.2009 June, “The O List”, in O, The Oprah Magazine, volume 10, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 55. From the entry fancy-shmancy
For public health purposes, the most practical is iodization of salt, and this continues to be the mainstay of national prophylactic programs.2006, Maurice Edward Shils, Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, page 307. From the entry iodization
Yes, millennials still flock to the reigning Westside mainstays for "daygers" (read: day ragers) or grab drinks with a view at Soho House, but times have changed.2017 November 10, Ramona Saviss, Brian Porreca, “5 Hot New L.A. Hangouts for Young Hollywood”, in The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles…. From the entry dayger
Restaurants still serve as a mainstay of nightlife, with diners passing over their bifshteks for another slammer of vodka and a lurch around the floor to a jackhammer Casio-beat.1996 June, John King, John Noble, Andrew Humphreys, “Facts for the Visitor – Entertainment”, in Central Asia (a Lonely Planet travel…. From the entry bifshtek
Questions on the topic are mainstays on Q&A platform Zhihu, often attracting peppery responses from Sichuan users who deplore ignorance of the subtle differences between their many reddish regional concoctions.2017 June 28, Hatty Liu, “Hot Pot or Malatang?”, in The World of Chinese, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2018. From the entry Zhihu

Meaning of mainstay

noun A chief support.
noun Someone or something that can be depended on to make a regular contribution.
noun A stabilising rope from high on the mainmast to the base of the foremast.

Full definition of mainstay

Questions about mainstay in a sentence

How do you use mainstay in a sentence?: Mainstay is used as a noun. For example: “Agriculture is the mainstay of this country’s economy.”
What is a short sentence with mainstay?: “Agriculture is the mainstay of this country’s economy.”
What does mainstay mean?: Mainstay means a chief support.

Adapted from Wiktionary: mainstay (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use mainstay in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/mainstay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.