existence
English
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.
Pronunciation
Noun
existence (countable and uncountable, plural existences)
- The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.
- Synonym: presence
- In order to destroy evil, we must first acknowledge its 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:
- 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.
- 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:
- However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
- 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146:
- 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.
- 2020 June 29, Wendi, “The Loyal General Yue Fei”, in Minghui[1]:
- 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.”
- Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)
Synonyms
- (state of being): See also Thesaurus:existence
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “state of being”): nonexistence, nothingness; See also Thesaurus:inexistence
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Anagrams
Czech
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin existentia.
Pronunciation
Noun
existence f
Declension
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | existence | existence |
genitive | existence | existencí |
dative | existenci | existencím |
accusative | existenci | existence |
vocative | existence | existence |
locative | existenci | existencích |
instrumental | existencí | existencemi |
Related terms
Further reading
- “existence”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
- “existence”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
- “existence”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛɡ.zis.tɑ̃s/
Audio (Paris): (file) - Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
- Homophone: existences
- Hyphenation: exis‧tence
Noun
existence f (plural existences)
Related terms
Further reading
- “existence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
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- Czech terms derived from Latin
- Czech terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Rhymes:Czech/ɛntsɛ
- Rhymes:Czech/ɛntsɛ/4 syllables
- Czech lemmas
- Czech nouns
- Czech terms spelled with X
- Czech feminine nouns
- Czech soft feminine nouns
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Late Latin
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:French/ɑ̃s
- French terms with homophones
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns