subsistent

American  

[suhb-sis-tuhnt] / səbˈsɪs tənt /

adjective

1. subsisting, existing, or continuing in existence.

2. inherent.

   subsistent qualities of character.

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noun

1. Philosophy. something that exists necessarily as opposed to contingent existence in space and time.

Usage

What does subsistent mean? Subsistent describes existing or continuing to live.Subsistent is generally used to describe something that continues but doesn’t grow or get better. Something that is subsistent is barely enough, as in We grow all our own food, but we can only grow a subsistent amount.Subsistent also describes something that is inherent or built-in, such as our need to breathe in order to acquire oxygen. You may hear discussions about aspects of life or industries as being subsistent, meaning they are unavoidable. For example, grief is a subsistent part of life.Example: Some cultures were subsistent simply on farming and foraging.

Other Word Forms

• nonsubsistent adjective
• presubsistent adjective
• self-subsistent adjective

Etymology

Origin of subsistent

1520–30; < Latin subsistent- (stem of subsistēns ), present participle of subsistere to remain; subsist, -ent

Example Sentences

Wild bird eggs could certainly have been a substitute and impoverished, subsistent shepherds likely would have found those in the forest.

From Salon

It’s a subsistent existence reliant on cheap or stolen food, dumpster diving and their own idiosyncratic brand of organization.

From Los Angeles Times

By the end of the trip, I’d seen landscapes both lush and dry, mountainous and flat; communities both affluent and subsistent; sights for the historian and for the adventure-seeker alike.

From Washington Post

Thus the identity in character and operation, having been cut off from the changing elements in its real action, is transmuted into a substantial somewhat, a subsistent faculty.

From Project Gutenberg

As for thoughts which should make an epoch of the period, we suppose the number of these to be in about the same proportion to the number of minds capable of thought, that the pearls now existent bear to the oysters still subsistent.

From Project Gutenberg