self-existent
Americanadjective
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existing independently of any cause, as God.
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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
He is relative, instead of absolute; finite, instead of infinite; dependent, instead of self-existent.
From Know the Truth; A critique of the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jones, Jesse H.
Uncaused, un-kawzd′, adj. without any precedent cause, self-existent.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
The infinite Reason is self-existent, and therefore independent; and is, and always must be, in the absolute possession of all possible knowledge, and so cannot grow.
From Know the Truth; A critique of the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jones, Jesse H.
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.
