exist
Formsexists, existing, existed
- 1To be real; to have actual being or presence rather than only being imagined.
Physicists still debate whether parallel universes truly exist.
Many people insist that ghosts exist, even though no one has ever produced convincing proof.
UsageUsually in simple tenses, not the -ing form: ghosts exist (not
incorrect: are existing).Similarbe
- 2To keep oneself alive with difficulty, typically on scarce money or food or under harsh conditions; often followed by on.
Thousands of families in the camp exist on food aid alone.
During the long siege, the townspeople existed on whatever they could grow in their yards.
Oppositethrive
Practice
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Origin
English took it from French exister, whose source is Latin existō (exsistō) "I am, I exist, appear, arise." The Latin verb joins ex ("out") with sistere ("to set, place"), a relative of stare ("to stand"), and goes back in the end to the Proto-Indo-European root *steh₂- meaning "stand." Consist, insist, persist, and resist share the same Latin base.