self-existent
Americanadjective
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existing independently of any cause, as God.
-
having an independent existence.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-existent
First recorded in 1695–1705
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.
For one thing, every proof seems to have a plausible refutation; for another, only a committed Thomist is likely to be spiritually moved by the realization that there is a self-existent Prime Mover.
From Time Magazine Archive
Lewis dismissed the philosophy that mind results from nature: "If any thought is valid, an eternal, self-existent Reason must exist and must be the source of my own imperfect and intermittent rationality."
From Time Magazine Archive
The hatred of America as a self-existent state became every day more intense in Spain from the desperate weakness of her authority in her trans-atlantic possessions.
From The History of Cuba, vol. 2 by Willis Fletcher Johnson
From hence we infer, that God is as eternal and infinite in his goodness, as his self-existent and perfect nature is omnipotently great.
From Reason, The Only Oracle of Man Or a Compendius System of Natural Religion by Ethan Allen
"He is One, self-existent, and to that One all things owe their existence."
From Life of Beethoven by Anton Schindler
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.
