exist
Americanverb (used without object)
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exists,
present (3rd person singular)
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existed,
past participle, past
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existing
present participle
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to have actual being; be.
The world exists, whether you like it or not.
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to have life or animation; live.
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to continue to be or live.
Belief in magic still exists.
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to have being in a specified place or under certain conditions; be found; occur.
Hunger exists in many parts of the world.
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to achieve the basic needs of existence, as food and shelter.
He's not living, he's merely existing.
verb
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to have being or reality; to be
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to eke out a living; stay alive; survive
I can barely exist on this wage
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to be living; live
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to be present under specified conditions or in a specified place
sharks exist in the Pacific
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philosophy
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to be actual rather than merely possible
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to be a member of the domain of some theory, an element of some possible world, etc
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to have contingent being while free, responsible, and aware of one's situation
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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existsimple
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existssimple
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have existedperfect
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has existedperfect
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am existingprogressive
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are existingprogressive
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is existingprogressive
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have been existingperfect progressive
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has been existingperfect progressive
Past
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existedsimple
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had existedperfect
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was existingprogressive
-
were existingprogressive
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had been existingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exist
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin ex(s)istere “to exist, appear, emerge,” equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + sistere “to stand”
Explanation
The verb exist means to live, to have reality. Dodos no longer exist because they were hunted to extinction. It's not only "live" things that exist. The government exists, as does your fear of heights. Anything that can be acknowledged in the present, exists. Another meaning for the verb exist is to support oneself or survive. If someone doesn't have a job, they may have to exist on unemployment benefits until they find one.
Vocabulary lists containing exist
Because of Winn-Dixie
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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"Inventing to Solve a Problem"
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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:
So another reason to upgrade might be for AI tools that don’t exist yet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
The contemporary Brighton exist the way they do largely because of the vision and investment of Tony Bloom.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
If humanity doesn’t exist on a binary, perhaps the emphasis shouldn’t always be on trying to see eye to eye; otherwise, no one can take a clear look at what’s happening in the periphery.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
She said the versions lawmakers passed — and Newsom has approved — could create “more barriers” than currently exist for community colleges moving to provide new degree programs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
I look at the empty room, dirt and dust I would have sworn didn’t exist littering the bare floor, then walk through every inch of the echoing apartment.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Instead, crypto exists on the blockchain, a kind of shared spreadsheet that anonymously records every transaction, and is “mined” digitally through the solving of complex math problems.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
Allegedly, somewhere out there De Palma’s original three-hour cut exists, one that so impressed Ellroy that he devoted an entire essay to singing its praises called “The Hillikers.”
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
The bigger trouble is that the plan exists at all.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Such weaponry already exists on Earth and can disrupt satellite communications, he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
“The only reason to do that is so no one else could get this extra information. You can’t do a keyword search for something that only exists in a notebook.”
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
Convenience food has always existed to solve problems.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Kratochvilova's record has been questioned, with claims it was assisted by her country's doping regime that existed at the time, something she has strenuously denied.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Some of these black holes contain millions or even billions of times the mass of the Sun, yet they already existed less than 600 million years after the Big Bang.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
Business continuity planning existed before Sept. 11, but it largely assumed localized disruptions: a power outage, a building fire, a flood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
It was a Hollywood movie before Hollywood even existed.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Danish and Greenlandic officials suggest it will build on an existing 1951 treaty, amended in 2004, that already gives the U.S. the right to deploy troops and build bases on the Arctic island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Meanwhile, Trump said his administration would use the existing criminal and civil justice system to target any bad actors using the AI.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
"Now genotyping tests can be designed to identify genetically AnWj-negative patients and donors. Such tests can be added to the existing genotyping platforms."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
It will allow a 35% to 50% credit on qualified expenses related specifically to post-production work done in California, and unlike the state’s existing film and TV credit, it doesn’t require productions to shoot here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The map dramatically shows the reduction in Indigenous lands, but its scale does not allow the “today” map to accurately depict all existing tribal offices and land holdings across the country.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
