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
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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:
"The idea of pebble accretion is still relatively new. It's only been around for the last decade. But it seems to solve many problems that exist with the existing paradigm for planet formation," Sharp said.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2026
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” said Adams, who added that he wishes the organizations that exist to help out veterans in tough situations were more widely known.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026
The job of humanity is to keep stepping forward with all the care and foresight it can muster in the name of civilization, which at last report is known to exist on one planet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026
For many children living in remote towns across the Peruvian Andes, movies only exist in the form of bootleg DVDs — Hollywood films dubbed in Spanish or in English with Spanish subtitles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026
I just look right through him as if he doesn’t exist.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Options outlined include a trial reassembly project or a permanent display facility, but the council noted that "no ready-made facility exists" and that such a site would cost around £27.5m.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026
“Suno exists to help people create new, original music, not to trade on anyone’s name or likeness, and we prohibit any unauthorized use of an artist’s work,” a spokesperson at Suno said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026
Godzilla in this making is the same iconic beast that many North American viewers know from the 1998 Sony Pictures film, but he exists in a different storyline with different producers.
From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2026
Gabby is one of those girls who exists in permanent cringe mode, embarrassed by all things but mostly by herself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Yes, my high school world and my other world have collided a couple of times recently, but Bre exists on a different plane from everyone else.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
“It never crossed my mind that such people existed on the face of the Earth.”
From Slate ● Nov. 12, 2026
It was nice that all those feelings existed when we were shooting that scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
Promise Knight, the council's cabinet member for cleaner streets, transport and public realm, said School Streets existed in the borough "to make the journey to and from school safer for children and families".
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
This happened partly because the brain eliminated some connections that had existed before treatment.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2026
Nothing existed for her but the trader’s house, the porch with Grandmother’s bed, and an endless present.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
It also shows that carefully engineering a material's atomic environment can do more than preserve its existing properties.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2026
That challenge is likely to exacerbate existing divisions over who would represent it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
The permission allows for demolition of existing buildings, the building of new modular accommodation, and provisions for health and welfare facilities.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
Huang persuaded Trump to allow sales of some of Nvidia’s high-end chips to China, despite the rivalry between the two countries and existing export controls.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026
Maybe he’s gone poof and suddenly stopped existing all together.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
