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subsistence

[ suhb-sis-tuhns ]
/ səbˈsɪs təns /
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noun
the state or fact of subsisting.
the state or fact of existing.
the providing of sustenance or support.
means of supporting life; a living or livelihood.
the source from which food and other items necessary to exist are obtained.
Philosophy.
  1. existence, especially of an independent entity.
  2. the quality of having timeless or abstract existence.
  3. mode of existence or that by which a substance is individualized.
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Origin of subsistence

1400–50; late Middle English <Late Latin subsistentia;see subsist, -ence

OTHER WORDS FROM subsistence

in·ter·sub·sist·ence, nounnon·sub·sist·ence, nounpre·sub·sist·ence, nounself-sub·sist·ence, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH subsistence

subsidence, subsistence
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use subsistence in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for subsistence

subsistence
/ (səbˈsɪstəns) /

noun
the means by which one maintains life
the act or condition of subsisting
a thing that has real existence
the state of being inherent
philosophy an inferior mode of being ascribed to the references of general terms which do not in fact existSee also nonbeing
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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