subsist
Americanverb (used without object)
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to exist; continue in existence.
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to remain alive; live, as on food, resources, etc.
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to have existence in, or by reason of, something.
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to reside, lie, or consist (usually followed byin ).
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Philosophy.
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to have timeless or abstract existence, as a number, relation, etc.
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to have existence, especially independent existence.
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verb (used with object)
verb
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(often foll by on) to be sustained; manage to live
to subsist on milk
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to continue in existence
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(foll by in) to lie or reside by virtue (of); consist
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philosophy
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to exist as a concept or relation rather than a fact
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to be conceivable
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obsolete (tr) to provide with support
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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subsisternoun
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presubsistverb (used without object)
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supersubsistverb (used without object)
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self-subsistingadjective
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subsistentadjective
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subsistinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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subsistsimple
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subsistssimple
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have subsistedperfect
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has subsistedperfect
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am subsistingprogressive
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are subsistingprogressive
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is subsistingprogressive
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have been subsistingperfect progressive
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has been subsistingperfect progressive
Past
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subsistedsimple
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had subsistedperfect
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was subsistingprogressive
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were subsistingprogressive
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had been subsistingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of subsist
1540–50; < Latin subsistere to remain, equivalent to sub- sub- + sistere to stand, make stand; see stand
Explanation
When you subsist, you keep yourself alive. Since most airlines have stopped serving food, many travelers are forced to subsist on little packets of pretzels, even on long flights. To subsist is to feed yourself, or keep yourself going, especially when you just barely manage to do so. A hunger striker might subsist on only water for weeks, and people in developing countries often have to subsist on small rations of rice or grain. Subsist comes from the Latin word subsistere, "to stand firm," but sometimes subsisting makes people feel like they are barely standing, rather than firmly standing.
Vocabulary lists containing subsist
Vocabulary from an excerpt from "Confessions of a 30-Year-Old Gamer," by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates
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Scythe
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The Awakening
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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.
See Examples For:
In the wild, wolf packs primarily subsist on wild ungulates - hoofed, typically herbivorous, animals such as deer, cows and pigs.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
When you spent all your savings to move to London, how did you subsist as a young girl with no English in a foreign land?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Those who subsist on the fringes of the Vegas tourism orbit are aware that they are in a funk but are nonetheless powerless to fix it.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
Yet the text’s unhurried recollections reflect its content: “Homework” feels leisurely as if to reflect the functional, socialist-adjacent government that allows its characters to subsist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
Koalas, which subsist exclusively on eucalyptus leaves, happily munched their way into new territories.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Chillaxed and impulsive, he subsists on good vibes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2025
This could affect the bird's ability to survive in tidal marshes, where it subsists on saltwater and salty crustaceans, something freshwater birds are ill-adapted to.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 24, 2024
He is unemployed and subsists on the corn and beans he grows.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 20, 2023
Thus she subsists on the blood of animals, a solution that becomes increasingly unworkable as her hunger increases.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
The food this family subsists on is like nothing I’ve ever eaten before.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
Cramped inside vessels overladen with precious cargo, crewmembers subsisted on a miserable diet of hardtack, an unleavened bread, and salted meat and fish that routinely spoiled and left many gravely ill.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
Through much of U.S. history, the federal government subsisted on the proceeds generated by tariffs and on the tax on whiskey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Even Oliver, a man who long subsisted on dips, has nothing bad to say.
From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025
Instead, his family largely subsisted on bread, he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
He would end his remarks, he said, by emphasising once again the friendly feelings that subsisted, and ought to subsist, between Animal Farm and its neighbours.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Maekar recoils at the thought of a child of royal birth subsisting on salted beef.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026
The men ran out of food, subsisting on what they scrounged up: vitamins pills and pancake mix.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2025
Less than two years ago, the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner was starting her nine-year sentence in a penal colony in Russia, sewing uniforms for the Russian military and subsisting on spoiled food.
From New York Times ● May 2, 2024
So far, they had been subsisting on snacks sent through a narrower pipe inserted earlier.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2023
The ancient Japanese developed some of the oldest pottery in the world and settled as hunter-gatherers in villages subsisting on Japan’s rich seafood resources, long before the arrival of food production.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
