existence

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ex·is·tence

(ĭg-zĭs′təns)

1. The fact or state of existing; being.

2. The fact or state of continued being; life: our brief existence on Earth.

a. All that exists: sang the beauty of all existence.

b. A thing that exists; an entity.

4. A mode or manner of existing: scratched out a meager existence.

5. Specific presence; occurrence: The Geiger counter indicated the existence of radioactivity.

Synonyms: existence, actuality, being
These nouns denote the fact or state of existing: laws in existence for centuries; an idea progressing from possibility to actuality; a nation that came into being after much turmoil.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

existence

(ɪɡˈzɪstəns)

1. the fact or state of existing; being

2. the continuance or maintenance of life; living, esp in adverse circumstances: a struggle for existence; she has a wretched existence.

3. something that exists; a being or entity

4. everything that exists, esp that is living

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ex•ist•ence

(ɪgˈzɪs təns)

n.

1. the state or fact of existing; being.

2. continuance in being or life; life: a struggle for existence.

3. mode of existing: They were working for a better existence.

4. all that exists.

5. something that exists; entity.

[1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	existence - the state or fact of existing; "a point of view gradually coming into being"; "laws in existence for centuries" being, beingness state - the way something is with respect to its main attributes; "the current state of knowledge"; "his state of health"; "in a weak financial state" actuality - the state of actually existing objectively; "a hope that progressed from possibility to actuality" timeless existence, timelessness, eternity - a state of eternal existence believed in some religions to characterize the afterlife preexistence - existing in a former state or previous to something else coexistence - existing peacefully together subsistence - the state of existing in reality; having substance presence - the state of being present; current existence; "he tested for the presence of radon" life - the course of existence of an individual; the actions and events that occur in living; "he hoped for a new life in Australia"; "he wanted to live his own life without interference from others" aliveness, animation, living, life - the condition of living or the state of being alive; "while there's life there's hope"; "life depends on many chemical and physical processes" life - a characteristic state or mode of living; "social life"; "city life"; "real life" transcendence, transcendency - a state of being or existence above and beyond the limits of material experience possibleness, possibility - capability of existing or happening or being true; "there is a possibility that his sense of smell has been impaired" nonentity, nonexistence - the state of not existing
	2.	existence - everything that exists anywhere; "they study the evolution of the universe"; "the biggest tree in existence" cosmos, macrocosm, universe, world, creation natural object - an object occurring naturally; not made by man extragalactic nebula, galaxy - (astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust; "`extragalactic nebula' is a former name for `galaxy'" celestial body, heavenly body - natural objects visible in the sky closed universe - (cosmology) a universe that is spatially closed and in which there is sufficient matter to halt the expansion that began with the big bang; the visible matter is only 10 percent of the matter required for closure but there may be large amounts of dark matter estraterrestrial body, extraterrestrial object - a natural object existing outside the earth and outside the earth's atmosphere natural order - the physical universe considered as an orderly system subject to natural (not human or supernatural) laws nature - the natural physical world including plants and animals and landscapes etc.; "they tried to preserve nature as they found it"

existence

noun

1. reality, being, life, survival, duration, endurance, continuation, subsistence, actuality, continuance Public worries about accidents are threatening the very existence of the nuclear power industry.

2. life, situation, way of life, life style the man who rescued her from her wretched existence

3. creation, life, the world, reality, the human condition, this mortal coil pondering the mysteries of existence

in existence surviving, remaining, functioning, operative, in force, existent, in operation, extant, undestroyed It is the only one of its kind that is in existence.

Quotations
"I think; therefore I am" [René Descartes Discourse on Method]
"Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve" [Erich Fromm Man For Himself]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

existence

noun

1. The fact or state of existing or of being actual:

actuality, being, entity, reality.

2. The period during which someone or something exists:

day (often used in plural), duration, life, lifetime, span, term.

3. One that exists independently:

being, entity, existent, individual, object, something, thing.

Translations

حَياة، بَقاءوُجود

existence

beståeneksistenslevevis

Sein Existenz Leben Vorhandensein Bestehen

ύπαρξη υπόσταση

ekzistado

existencia

olemassaolo

existence existant

egzistencijapostojanje

tilveratilvist, líf

esistenza

bestaan voorkomen

eksistens liv tilværelse

existência

существование

existenciaplatnosť

obstoj

existens

var olmayaşam biçimi

存在生活方式

existence

[ɪgˈzɪstəns] N → existencia f; (= way of life) → vida f
to be in existence → existir
to come into existence → nacer
the only one in existence → el único existente

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

existence

[ɪgˈzɪstəns] n → existence f
to be in existence → exister

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

existence

→ Existenz f; (of custom, tradition, institution) → Bestehen nt, → Existenz f; to be in existence → existieren, bestehen; to come into existence → entstehen; (person) → auf die Welt kommen; to go out of existence → zu bestehen or existieren aufhören; do you believe in the existence of God? → glauben Sie daran, dass Gott existiert?, glauben Sie an die Existenz Gottes?; the continued existence of slavery → das Weiterbestehen or der Fortbestand der Sklaverei; the only one in existence → der Einzige, den es gibt

(= life) → Leben nt, → Dasein nt, → Existenz f; a miserable existence → ein elendes Leben, ein trostloses Dasein; means of existence → Lebensunterhalt m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

existence

[ɪgˈzɪst/əns] n → esistenza
to be in existence → esistere
to come into existence → essere creato/a
the only one in existence → l'unico esistente

exist

(igˈzist) verb

1. to be something real or actual. Do ghosts really exist?

2. to stay alive; to continue to live. It is possible to exist on bread and water.

exˈistence noun

1. the state of existing. He does not believe in the existence of God; How long has this rule been in existence?

2. (a way of) life. an uneventful existence.

References in classic literature ?

Correlatives are thought to come into existence simultaneously.

View in context

The most fundamental idea, the idea of existence, has not been received by me through sensation; indeed, there is no special sense-organ for the transmission of such an idea."

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Before entering on the subject of this chapter, I must make a few preliminary remarks, to show how the struggle for existence bears on Natural Selection.

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It was the body which despaired of the earth--it heard the bowels of existence speaking unto it.

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Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes.

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He has heard from priests and priestesses, and from the poet Pindar, of an immortal soul which is born again and again in successive periods of existence, returning into this world when she has paid the penalty of ancient crime, and, having wandered over all places of the upper and under world, and seen and known all things at one time or other, is by association out of one thing capable of recovering all.

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Nothing can be more evident, than that an exclusive power of regulating elections for the national government, in the hands of the State legislatures, would leave the existence of the Union entirely at their mercy.

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The scope of the Library thus became extended into something more international, and it is entering on the fifth decade of its existence in the hope that it may contribute to that mutual understanding between countries which is so pressing a need of the present time."

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"After examining one by one the different theories, rejecting all other suggestions, it becomes necessary to admit the existence of a marine animal of enormous power.

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A horrible existence is this, but you must remember it is the regular ordained existence of Woggle-Bugs, as well as of many other tiny creatures that inhabit the earth.

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Since that time, scarcely a week has passed during seven whole years, without his hearing from me a repetition of the part I played in that manifestation, together with ample descriptions of all the phenomena in Spaceland, and the arguments for the existence of Solid things derivable from Analogy.

View in context

Of this existence we know many things, but no new light falls upon any page of that; in memory is written all of it that we can read.