extant
Americanadjective
-
in existence; still existing; not destroyed or lost.
There are only three extant copies of the document.
-
Archaic. standing out; protruding.
adjective
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still in existence; surviving
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archaic standing out; protruding
Usage
Extant is sometimes wrongly used simply to say that something exists, without any connotation of survival: plutonium is perhaps the deadliest element in existence (not the deadliest element extant )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of extant
1535–45; < Latin ex ( s ) tant- (stem of ex ( s ) tāns ) standing out, present participle of exstāre, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + stāre to stand
Explanation
Use the adjective extant to describe old things that are still around, like your extant diary from third grade or the only extant piece of pottery from certain craftspeople who lived hundreds of years ago. Extant is the opposite of extinct: it refers to things that are here — they haven't disappeared or been destroyed. Use extant to describe things that it may be surprising to learn are still around — you wouldn't say jeans you bought last year are extant, but a pair of jeans worn by Marilyn Monroe back in the 1950s? Definitely extant.
Vocabulary lists containing extant
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
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The Scarlet Letter
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet many musicians long considered the roughly 220 extant cantatas of J.S.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026
According to the Department of Business and Trade, 161 of the extant licences relate to military products.
From BBC • Jul. 22, 2025
"So I placed the nematodes in the established collective group genus Vetus, which was established in 1935 for fossil nematodes that could not be placed in any known extant family."
From Science Daily • Jun. 6, 2024
You could see details in saddles and costumes, and the building were still extant.
From Salon • Jun. 3, 2024
Leaning back, tilting his important-style chair, he rummaged among the contents of the envelope until he came across what he wanted: the collected, extant data on the Nexus-6.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
