Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The fact or state of existing; being.
  • noun The fact or state of continued being; life.
  • noun All that exists.
  • noun A thing that exists; an entity.
  • noun A mode or manner of existing.
  • noun Specific presence; occurrence.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Actual being; being at a certain moment or throughout a certain period of time; being such as ordinary objects possess. See being.
  • noun Hence Life; vital or sentient being; state of life.
  • noun That which exists; that which actually is an individual thing; an actuality.
  • noun Reality; fact; truth.
  • noun In logic, presence in the universe, system, or total collection of individual objects considered.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of existing or being; actual possession of being; continuance in being
  • noun Continued or repeated manifestation; occurrence, as of events of any kind.
  • noun That which exists; a being; a creature; an entity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.
  • noun empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun everything that exists anywhere
  • noun the state or fact of existing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia ("existence").

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Examples

  • Bolzano took this dictum to be about existence in his own narrow sense of ˜existence™ or

    Slices of Matisse gerard varni 2009

  • If, rejecting the word Thing, we endeavour to find another of a more general import, or at least more exclusively confined to that general import, a word denoting all that exists, and connoting only simple existence; no word might be presumed fitter for such a purpose than _being_: originally the present participle of a verb which in one of its meanings is exactly equivalent to the verb _exist_; and therefore suitable, even by its grammatical formation, to be the concrete of the abstract _existence_.

    A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive (Vol. 1 of 2) John Stuart Mill 1839

  • One of the things that make Glock pistols some of the safest in existence is their unique Safe Action System.

    i looked at a glock 27 today to use as a backup weapon for my job. 2010

  • Any fictional character in existence is eligible for this list.

    The 100 Greatest Fictional Characters of All Time | Fandomania 2009

  • One of the things that make Glock pistols some of the safest in existence is their unique Safe Action System.

    i looked at a glock 27 today to use as a backup weapon for my job. 2010

  • The book, one of seven in existence, is referenced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

    SF Tidbits for 12/15/07 2007

  • A fine art facsimile edition of one of the greatest medieval illuminated manuscripts in existence is published by the British Library, in association with Faksimile Verlag Luzern, on 23 March 2007.

    March 2007 2007

  • The book, one of seven in existence, is referenced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

    December 2007 2007

  • The science fiction now in existence is no longer "science."

    Who Killed Science Fiction? 2006

  • I'll answer your first question: The finest salsa in existence is Salsa Magnifico's Raspberry Salsa, available for a piddling price considering what you get.

    A Very Specially Boring Day For Ferrett 2006

Comments

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  • “We can't all, and some just don't. That's all there is to it.�?

    - A. A. Milne quote

    July 24, 2009