existence

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.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛɡˈzɪs.təns/, /ɪɡˈzɪs.təns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

existence (countable and uncountable, plural existences)

1. (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.

   • 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.”

2. Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)

• (state of being): See also Thesaurus:existence

• (antonym(s) of “state of being”): nonexistence, nothingness; See also Thesaurus:inexistence

• exist
• aseity
• existential

• ectexines

Ultimately from Latin existentia.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛɡzɪstɛnt͡sɛ]

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: exi‧s‧ten‧ce
• Rhymes: -ɛntsɛ

existence f

1. existence

• “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

Inherited from Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”).

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡ.zis.tɑ̃s/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
• Homophone: existences
• Hyphenation: exis‧tence

existence f (plural existences)

1. existence
2. life

   Synonym: vie

• exister
• existentiel

• “existence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.