How to Use mainstay in a Sentence

mainstay

noun
  • Fish is a mainstay of their diet.
  • My mother has always been the mainstay of our family.
  • That was a mainstay of my moviegoing for years.
    — Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 2 May 2026
  • Turns out, she was buried alive—and is now a mainstay at the cemetery as a ghost.
    — Sophie Friedman, AFAR Media, 22 Oct. 2025
  • They’ve been fixtures on tour for years, and mainstays in the medal rounds for much of it.
    — Todd Boss, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Black is a smartphone mainstay.
    — PC Magazine, 11 Sep. 2025
  • This mainstay is a household name for a reason.
    — Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Despite it all, this one is a toiletry bag mainstay.
    — Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 25 Mar. 2026
  • That is the mainstay of the content being scanned.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 23 May 2026
  • Through it all, though, the drugstore has stayed a mainstay in my routine.
    — Genevieve Cepeda, InStyle, 17 Jan. 2026
  • To this day, pore strips are a mainstay in many skin-care regimens across the globe.
    — Wendy Rose Gould, refinery29.com, 10 June 2022
  • Reyes has been a mainstay on the Weymouth baseball team for a while.
    — Danny Ventura, Boston Herald, 26 Apr. 2025
  • Lizotte figures to be a mainstay, though.
    — Josh Yohe, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
  • And one album has been his mainstay since the day the spinoff began filming.
    — EW.com, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Moose and caribou are the two mainstays of an Alaskan wolf’s diet.
    — Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 23 Aug. 2023
  • The lineup for the show includes a crop of country mainstays.
    — Jon Freeman, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2023
  • There’s a reason tanks are a mainstay in spring and summer closets.
    — Ali Faccenda, PEOPLE, 6 May 2026
  • The physical toll being put on the mainstays in the squad looked to be telling on some.
    — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026
  • The two are poised to become mainstays on this year’s offensive line.
    — Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 25 Mar. 2026
  • The mainstay of apple canker control is pruning out the cankers.
    — oregonlive, 23 Jan. 2022
  • These coolers will become a mainstay for your food cooling needs.
    — Rebecca Jones, Southern Living, 28 May 2026
  • True to his word, Eaton remained a Utah mainstay for the rest of his life.
    — Tim Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 29 May 2021
  • True to his word, Eaton remained a Utah mainstay for the rest of his life.
    — Tim Reynolds, ajc, 30 May 2021
  • From the seaside to the city, the basket tote has since become a mainstay in our wardrobes.
    — Cortne Bonilla, Vogue, 17 July 2023
  • That’s why the car is a mainstay of the brand’s lineup nearly three decades later.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The following on-sale styles will become mainstays in your wardrobe through spring.
    — Cheryl Wagemann, InStyle, 11 Feb. 2026
  • This split-neck long-sleeve blouse is a piece that’ll be a mainstay in my weekly rotation.
    — Ali Faccenda, InStyle, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Singing is her musical mainstay now.
    — Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 16 Feb. 2026
  • There are a few reliable mainstays of toddler life, though.
    — Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Some are recent upstarts, while others have been mainstays for decades.
    — Jason Ma, Fortune, 24 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mainstay.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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