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existence
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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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.
Pronunciation
Noun
existence (countable and uncountable, plural existences)
- (Ontology) 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.
- 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
state of being, existing, or occurring
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Anagrams
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Czech
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin existentia.
Pronunciation
Noun
existence f
Declension
Declension of existence (soft feminine)
Related terms
Related terms
- asistence
- asistent
- asistovat
- existenciální
- existencialismus
- existencialista
- existencialistický
- existenční
- existovat
- koexistence
- koexistovat
- konzistence
- konzistentní
- perzistence
- perzistentní
- perzistovat
- rezistence
- rezistor
- subsistence
- tranzistor
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), 2008–2025
- “existence”, in Akademický slovník současné češtiny, 2012–2025, slovnikcestiny.cz
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French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”).
Pronunciation
Noun
existence f (plural existences)
Related terms
Further reading
- “existence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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