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.
In many existing systems, extreme cooling is necessary to prevent a process known as decoherence, in which delicate quantum information is lost.
From Science Daily • May 30, 2026
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Replimune would submit new clinical data or additional analyses of existing trial results to help secure approval.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
The new indictment adds charges of bribery in sporting contests and honest services wire fraud conspiracy to the existing two wire fraud charges he has faced since October.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
"So now you want to fit it into your existing way of working."
From BBC • May 28, 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
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.
