exist
Americanverb (used without object)
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exists,
present (3rd person singular)
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existed,
past participle, past
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existing
present participle
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to have actual being; be.
The world exists, whether you like it or not.
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to have life or animation; live.
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to continue to be or live.
Belief in magic still exists.
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to have being in a specified place or under certain conditions; be found; occur.
Hunger exists in many parts of the world.
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to achieve the basic needs of existence, as food and shelter.
He's not living, he's merely existing.
verb
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to have being or reality; to be
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to eke out a living; stay alive; survive
I can barely exist on this wage
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to be living; live
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to be present under specified conditions or in a specified place
sharks exist in the Pacific
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philosophy
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to be actual rather than merely possible
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to be a member of the domain of some theory, an element of some possible world, etc
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to have contingent being while free, responsible, and aware of one's situation
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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existsimple
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existssimple
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have existedperfect
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has existedperfect
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am existingprogressive
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are existingprogressive
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is existingprogressive
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have been existingperfect progressive
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has been existingperfect progressive
Past
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existedsimple
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had existedperfect
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was existingprogressive
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were existingprogressive
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had been existingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exist
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin ex(s)istere “to exist, appear, emerge,” equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + sistere “to stand”
Explanation
The verb exist means to live, to have reality. Dodos no longer exist because they were hunted to extinction. It's not only "live" things that exist. The government exists, as does your fear of heights. Anything that can be acknowledged in the present, exists. Another meaning for the verb exist is to support oneself or survive. If someone doesn't have a job, they may have to exist on unemployment benefits until they find one.
Vocabulary lists containing exist
Because of Winn-Dixie
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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"Inventing to Solve a Problem"
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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.
See Examples For:
In those final days of David’s life, the outside world ceases to exist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The discovery changes how researchers understand Fe5GeTe2, a material that can exist in several different atomic arrangements.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
And so the outcomes exist in a kind of mixed reality where the world watched them happen, but isn't sure if they're really 'real'.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
A third ad includes images of Mount Rushmore, with Trump narrating that “the United States of America is the most successful, most accomplished, most exceptional nation ever to exist in human history.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
It is a painful way to exist in the world, but Joey rarely complains.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The risk exists because “Xanadu and most quantum computing peers have nominal near-term revenue, which makes benchmarking valuation difficult.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
You could see the logic of him not playing wing-back against the accomplished Swiss, but no such threat exists against North Macedonia.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
"The 18-year-old girl suffering from severe mental illness and near-debilitating trauma no longer exists," her attorneys said.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
“That would be like Shakespeare creating a trust and it still exists today,” Goode said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Agnes says it likes tomatoes, but it’s not like we can afford to waste tomatoes on a chicken my parents don’t know exists and wouldn’t necessarily want to catch anyway.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
In his office in the small village centre, Muhos mayor Kimmo Hinno told AFP that Google's "massive investment" kept him busy these days as "no industry of this type" existed here at present.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
It is a living memorial to a president who was taken from us too soon, a man who had the audacity to aim for the moon before the science existed to get us there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
That stability suggests γ-Fe could act as a previously unrecognized recorder of magnetic information in lunar material, preserving clues about conditions that existed during the Moon's past.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
It is not the first time Scotland's ancient geology has been used by scientists to help them understand how life could have existed on Mars.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Not a road or village or settlement or power line or even a single person existed in this staggering immensity.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
“But neither can be existing law — in a limited way, and at times of special need — and still meet these larger responsibilities.”
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
That change could potentially make this notoriously difficult cancer more vulnerable to existing treatments.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
"Future studies can test whether enhancing this protective pathway can complement existing treatments, identify patients most likely to benefit and lead to new therapeutic approaches for preventing advanced disease."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
Brazil, Libya, Angola and Ghana and to export refined products from Lamu’s existing port, which the company says it will expand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
I didn’t want to hear the outside world, either, but I hadn’t been able to improve upon the apartment’s existing soundproofing.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
