existing
Americanadjective
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of existing
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the appeals court noted that the existing injunction specifically allows construction of underground bunkers, bomb shelters and military and medical infrastructure to continue, along with aboveground work strictly necessary for security.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
The company plans to use its existing infrastructure, locations and robotics to prepare those meals during off-peak hours, then send them out in the same deliveries as its hot, ready-to-go food.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
WHO vaccine experts on Friday recommended a full-scale human trial of the only existing approved Ebola vaccine to see if it offers cross-protection against a deadly strain spreading in the DR Congo.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
The results point to specific asteroids that could be reached using existing spacecraft technology.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
“Dèja, if home is about relationships, social units existing within larger units, how many do we share? As a class?”
From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
