existing

American  

[ig-zis-ting] / ɪgˈzɪs tɪŋ /

adjective

1. already or previously in place, before being replaced, altered, or added to.

   Fundraising costs money, and recruiting new donors is more expensive than asking existing supporters to give a little more.

2. having actual being or life.

   The great ornithologist Alexander Wetmore, who died in 1978, allegedly declared that all existing species of birds had already been discovered.

3. occurring in a specified place or under specified conditions.

   Members of committees dealing with the behavior of intelligence services met to discuss the existing challenges and exchange best practices.

4. achieving only the basic needs of existence, as food and shelter.

   Forrest Bess was a marginally existing bait fisherman and artist who lived in a ramshackle cabin on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unexisting
  adjective
• nonexisting
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of existing

exist ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Explanation

If something is existing, it's real. When you make a list of existing mammals, you can't include unicorns, because they don't really exist. Something that's real can be said to exist, or to be existing. The existing laws in your state are the ones that are actually on the books, and your existing friends are the ones you really have, and who are all alive and well. The verb exist, at the root of the adjective existing, comes from the Latin existere, "come into being," from a combination of ex, "out," and sistere, "take a stand."

Example Sentences

If it ends up with less funds this year, existing projects will still move forward with the available money, Hinton said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

Saudi Arabia is building a major new airport in Riyadh with a planned capacity of 120 million passengers a year by 2030, compared to 53 million at the existing King Khalid International Airport.

From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026

Meanwhile, extending the life of existing reactors and upgrading them to squeeze more electricity out of them is “really important,” Eggers says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

According to the researchers, these newly developed antibodies perform significantly better than any existing approach aimed at targeting SLAMF6.

From Science Daily • Jun. 9, 2026

He reached the conclusion that what was wrong with all existing systems of knowledge was that they had been cobbled together by lots of different people over long periods of time.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• actual
• current
• extant