existence
nounUS /ɛɡˈzɪs.təns/
Etymology From Middle English existence, from Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”), from existēns, from existō, exsistō (“I am, I exist”), from ex (“out”) + sistere (“to set, place”) (related to stare (“to stand, to be stood”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti, from the root *steh₂- (“stand”). Cognate with Spanish existencia, French existence, German Existenz. Morphologically exist + -ence.
1
The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.
- In order to destroy evil, we must first acknowledge its existence.
- Fortunate it is for the tranquillity of the new-born infant, if he have any turn for philosophy, that he understands none of the nonsense consecrated by old usage to the commencement of existence.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 71:
3 more examples
- However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
- The ancients said, “A ruler should exist for the existence of the people.” The famous thinker, Mencius noted, “The people are the most valuable, then the country, and the ruler comes last.”2020 June 29, Wendi, “The Loyal General Yue Fei”, in Minghui:
2
Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)
- Antonyms
- nonexistence, nothingness, inexistence
- Derived terms
- bane of someone's existence, co-existence, coexistence, existenceless, inexistence, in existence, non-existence, nonexistence, postexistence, preexistence, self-existence, three marks of existence, timeless existence, unexistence, waste of existence
- Related terms
- exist, aseity, existential, entity
- Hypernyms
- state
- Hyponyms
- coexistence, concomitance