nonexistent
Britishadjective
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not having being or existence
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not present under specified conditions or in a specified place
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Something that's nonexistent doesn't really exist. When your cat hisses at her reflection in the mirror, she's attacking a nonexistent enemy. The adjective nonexistent describes something that's not real. Your nonexistent problems are only in your imagination, for example, and you may pretend to answer a nonexistent phone call to avoid an awkward conversation with an acquaintance at the post office. The word existent is at the heart of nonexistent, with its root of existence. They all come from the Latin word exsistere, "to come into being, to appear, or to be."
Vocabulary lists containing nonexistent
Zilch, Zip, Nada: Words For Nothing
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Nobody's Home: Synonyms For "Absent"
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The Phantom Tollbooth
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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.
But for him, the cameras aren’t a replacement for police traffic enforcement, which he said seems virtually nonexistent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
However, after my father passed away, that support has been inconsistent — sometimes substantial and other times essentially nonexistent, without much explanation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Federal judges have found that the government filed statements generated by artificial intelligence that referenced nonexistent case law, wrote briefs that ignored facts and filed declarations with inaccurate dates, the ProPublica review shows.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
There is little hope of recovering wealth in a country where mortgages and housing insurance are virtually nonexistent thanks to the spectacular demise of the national currency, the bolivar, and years of hyperinflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
The clothes were worn on Christmas and New Year’s when families paraded their children on the streets in a pageantry designed to imply nonexistent wealth.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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.
