Library / English Dictionary

EXIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have an existence, be extant

Example:

Is there a God?

Synonyms:

be; exist

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "exist"):

come (be found or available)

preexist (exist beforehand or prior to a certain point in time)

kick about; kick around; knock about (be around; be alive or active)

coexist; cohabit (exist together)

indwell (to exist as an inner activating spirit, force, or principle)

hold; obtain; prevail (be valid, applicable, or true)

consist; dwell; lie; lie in (originate (in))

endanger; imperil; jeopardise; jeopardize; menace; peril; threaten (pose a threat to; present a danger to)

flow (be abundantly present)

distribute (be distributed or spread, as in statistical analyses)

dwell; inhabit (exist or be situated within)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

existence (the state or fact of existing)

existent (presently existing in fact and not merely potential or possible)

existent (having existence or being or actuality)

existent (being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Support oneself

Example:

Many people in the world have to subsist on $1 a day

Synonyms:

exist; live; subsist; survive

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Verb group:

endure; go; hold out; hold up; last; live; live on; survive (continue to live and avoid dying)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "exist"):

breathe (be alive)

drift; freewheel (live unhurriedly, irresponsibly, or freely)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

A very rare ameloblastic carcinoma that originates from a pre-existing intraosseous benign ameloblastoma.

(Ameloblastic Carcinoma-Secondary Type (Dedifferentiated), Intraosseous, NCI Thesaurus)

A very rare ameloblastic carcinoma that originates from a pre-existing extraosseous benign ameloblastoma.

(Ameloblastic Carcinoma-Secondary Type (Dedifferentiated), Peripheral, NCI Thesaurus)

Specifies whether the subject requires hospitalization or prolongation of existing hospitalization as a result of the adverse event.

(Adverse Event Hospitalization Required Indicator, NCI Thesaurus)

These lesions tend to be multiple in existing mouse models.

(Adenoma of the Mouse Pulmonary System, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Not existing in a specified place at a specified time.

(Absent, NCI Thesaurus)

An appendage to an existing document that contains supplemental information.

(Addendum, NCI Thesaurus)

For the model, they put grains of “naphthalene and biphenyl — two toxic, carbon and hydrogen bearing compounds believed to exist on Titan’s surface — into a small cylinder.”

('Electric Sands' Cover Titan, VOA News)

Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of sham, the overshading, the overtone.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So far as he was concerned, Harkey's body did not exist.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which serves me so well.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)