nonexistent

adj, noun — 3 senses

nonexistent

adj

Etymology From non- + existent.

1

Not existent or existing; not real.

  • "Hrunk" is a nonexistent word.
  • His social skills are nonexistent: he chewed with his mouth open all through dinner.
3 more examples
  • In the 1995 Test Census, the Bureau plans to test the use of Postal Service letter carriers to identify vacant and nonexistent units when it mails census questionnaires.1994, William Martin Hunt, Decennial Census: 1995 Test Census Presents Opportunities to Evaluate New Census-Taking Methods, US General Accounting Office, page 4:
  • If there is anything of philosophical significance to be taken at face value in ordinary thought and language it is the reference and attribution of properties to existent and nonexistent objects.1996, Dale Jacquette, Meinongian Logic: The Semantics of Existence and Nonexistence, Walter de Gruyter, page 7:
  • Conversely, to return to the point at hand, nonexistent entities can be known, even by a Buddha, without being, thereby, substantial.2015, Jonathan Gold, “Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu's Unifying Buddhist Philosophy”, in Paperback, Columbia University Press, published 2016, page 275:
2

Not present or occurring.

  • Large cranes were virtually non-existent in the areas I worked with this truck, so we jacked everything on and off[.]2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 111:
  • The opposite issue emerges in the summer when students face scorching temperatures with unreliable or nonexistent air conditioning.2018 January 4, Janie Tankard Carnock, “Frigid Baltimore City schools: The racism we haven’t confronted”, in CNN:
Related terms
nonexistence, nonexistential, lost to the world

nonexistent

noun

Etymology From non- + existent.

1

Something that does not exist.

  • By showing that no true statements were about nonexistents, he dismissed any facts or knowledge about the so-called beingless.2011, Carolyn Swanson, Reburial of Nonexistents, page 5:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.