EXISTENTIAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does existential mean? 

• EXISTENTIAL (adjective)
  The adjective EXISTENTIAL has 3 senses:

1. derived from experience or the experience of existence

2. of or as conceived by existentialism

3. relating to or dealing with existence (especially with human existence)

  Familiarity information: EXISTENTIAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXISTENTIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Derived from experience or the experience of existence

Synonyms:

existential; experiential

Context example:

formal logicians are not concerned with existential matters

Similar:

empiric; empirical (derived from experiment and observation rather than theory)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or as conceived by existentialism

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

an existential moment of choice

Pertainym:

existentialism ((philosophy) a 20th-century philosophical movement chiefly in Europe; assumes that people are entirely free and thus responsible for what they make of themselves)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Relating to or dealing with existence (especially with human existence)

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

existence (the state or fact of existing)

Derivation:

existence (the state or fact of existing)

 Context examples 

"Both these prizes (...) tell us something essential, something existential about our place in the Universe", said selection committee member Ulf Danielsson.

(Swedish academy announces 2019 Nobel Prize winners in physics, Wikinews)