extant
[ ek-stuh nt, ik-stant ]
/ ˈɛk stənt, ɪkˈstænt /
adjective
in existence; still existing; not destroyed or lost: There are only three extant copies of the document.
Archaic. standing out; protruding.
Nearby words
Origin of extant
Related formsnon·ex·tant, adjective
Can be confusedextant extent
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for extant
British Dictionary definitions for extant
extant
/ (ɛkˈstænt, ˈɛkstənt) /
adjective
still in existence; surviving
archaic standing out; protruding
Word Origin for extant
C16: from Latin exstāns standing out, from exstāre, from stāre to stand
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)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for extant
extant
1540s, "standing out above a surface," from Latin extantem (nominative extans), present participle of extare "stand out, be visible, exist," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Sense of "in existence" attested in English by 1560s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper