Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To have actual being; be real.
- intransitive verb To have life; live.
- intransitive verb To live at a minimal level; subsist.
- intransitive verb To continue to be; persist.
- intransitive verb To be present under certain circumstances or in a specified place; occur.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To have actual being of any kind; actually be at a certain moment or throughout a certain period of time.
- Hence To live; continue to have life or animation: as, men cannot exist without air, nor fishes without water.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To be as a fact and not as a mode; to have an actual or real being, whether material or spiritual.
- intransitive verb To be manifest in any manner; to continue to be.
- intransitive verb To live; to have life or the functions of vitality.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to
be ; haveexistence ; have being orreality
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb have an existence, be extant
- verb support oneself
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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And I again repeat solemnly Palacký's word that _Austria may exist only so long as her nations wish for it_, and that _she will cease to exist_ as soon as her nations do not want her to exist.
Independent Bohemia An Account of the Czecho-Slovak Struggle for Liberty Vladim��r Nosek 1929
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Evolution, seeking to be consistent, answers: "It is true that faculties cannot be evolved out of a thing unless they exist in a crude and undeveloped state in that thing, but these higher faculties _do exist_ in the lower orders, potentially, or in a germ form and are developed and become operative only in the higher forms of life."
Evolution An Investigation and a Critique Theodore Graebner 1913
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Form is superior to matter, because it needs the latter only to be seen but can exist by itself though not seen; whereas matter cannot _exist_ without form.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy Isaac Husik 1907
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For example, the proposition _All devils are ugly_ need not imply that any such things as 'devils' really exist; but it certainly does imply that _Devils that are not ugly do not exist_.
Logic Deductive and Inductive Carveth Read 1889
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I need a ruling on this matter from Ruth Anne -- did the term exist before I used it?
"Immersing myself in anti-Althousiana." Ann Althouse 2007
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The inspired editor, if such still exist, is hemmed in by all the corporate requirements.
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The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the “going price” has been held below the market-clearing price.
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The only God who can be proven to exist is the God of the Bible, which is why I'm sticking with Him.
Tom McIntyre Explains His Picks for our 2009 Hunting and Fishing Heroes and Villians Face-Off 2009
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Mark – The reason of why the SCOTUS exist is to be the highest judicial body in the USA, and if they have to 'meddle in people's lives' to do and be what they are meant to, so be it.
Sotomayor: Supreme Court might be able to take on more cases 2009
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Now the mayor investigated, but won't comment, the professor backed down because he lied, one of the good cops that African American's say don't exist is being harassed, and Obama wants too settle it with a beer too protect his friend.
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