EXIST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does exist mean? 

• EXIST (verb)
  The verb EXIST has 2 senses:

1. have an existence, be extant

2. support oneself

  Familiarity information: EXIST used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXIST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they exist    ... he / she / it exists   
Past simple: existed   
Past participle: existed   
-ing form: existing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have an existence, be extant

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

be; exist

Context example:

Is there a God?

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

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

exist; live; subsist; survive

Context example:

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

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

 Context examples 

Ice exists on Earth almost exclusively in the highly ordered hexagonal crystal structure known as "ice I."

(Scientists probe the limits of ice, National Science Foundation)

They found it possible that liquid water, a prerequisite for life as we know it, might exist on parts of the planet.

(Simulations show planet orbiting Proxima Centauri could have liquid water, Wikinews)

"Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution," said Prof. LIU.

(Unpredicted stellar black hole discovered by astronomers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

SOFIA's image shows gas in blue as it's heated by massive stars located near the center, and dust in green that is warmed both by existing massive stars and nearby newborn stars.

(SOFIA Reveals How the Swan Nebula Hatched, NASA)

Existing treatments have tended to take hours to set.

(Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets, Wikinews)

Mills and team point out that the areas with co-existing winter brown and winter white animals would be places with special potential for evolutionary rescue, where genetically driven adaptive traits reverse population decline.

(Twenty-one species adapted to disappear in the snow. Then, the snow disappeared, National Science Foundation)

Although some of the genes involved in that adaptation exist in the other plants, they do not switch on when the roots are being flooded.

(Grains in the rain, National Science Foundation)

Using existing genetic sequencing technology, the researchers can then search for the aptamers and determine which proteins are present and in what concentrations.

(Study highlights potential for ‘liquid health check’ to predict disease risk, University of Cambridge)

Such stellar remnants can still host planets, and many of these star systems are thought to exist in our galaxy.

(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)

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

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