preexist
verb (used without object)
to exist beforehand.
pre-exist
-
a variation of
preexist.
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.
He notes the way America’s listening habits are often segregated by race, and occasionally more universal: The great Motown hits, like “My Girl,” he writes, “seem to pre-exist musical taste itself.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 4, 2021
In fact, as Machiavelli observes, it is very difficult for leaders to have real friends or to maintain those friendships that pre-exist their coming to office.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2010
And therefore, since virtue is the principle of some kind of operation, there must needs pre-exist in the operator in respect of virtue some corresponding disposition.
From Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas
It does not pre-exist in fats, but is formed when the fat is decomposed by alkali or steam.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886 by Various
Wherefore the ends of moral virtue must of necessity pre-exist in the reason.
From Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Saint Thomas Aquinas
