existing

American  

[ig-zis-ting] / ɪgˈzɪs tɪŋ /

adjective

1. already or previously in place, before being replaced, altered, or added to.

   Fundraising costs money, and recruiting new donors is more expensive than asking existing supporters to give a little more.

2. having actual being or life.

   The great ornithologist Alexander Wetmore, who died in 1978, allegedly declared that all existing species of birds had already been discovered.

3. occurring in a specified place or under specified conditions.

   Members of committees dealing with the behavior of intelligence services met to discuss the existing challenges and exchange best practices.

4. achieving only the basic needs of existence, as food and shelter.

   Forrest Bess was a marginally existing bait fisherman and artist who lived in a ramshackle cabin on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Other Word Forms

• nonexisting adjective
• unexisting adjective

Etymology

Origin of existing

exist ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Explanation

If something is existing, it's real. When you make a list of existing mammals, you can't include unicorns, because they don't really exist. Something that's real can be said to exist, or to be existing. The existing laws in your state are the ones that are actually on the books, and your existing friends are the ones you really have, and who are all alive and well. The verb exist, at the root of the adjective existing, comes from the Latin existere, "come into being," from a combination of ex, "out," and sistere, "take a stand."

Example Sentences

The solar plant also is sited next to a soon-to-be-finished 80-megawatt/320-megawatt-hour battery storage bank and Calpine’s existing 750-megawatt natural gas-fired combined-cycle generating plant, which company officials described as a “trifecta” of energy reliability.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026

Hall says existing laws are adequate and the challenge is for the police and Crown Prosecution Service to enforce them.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

White adds that production can rise simply because existing factories are ramping up capacity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026

The new report was not based on any updated research, but on a review of existing studies, researchers point out.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 18, 2026

They already know about the hundreds of existing crops and set out to develop yet another one.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• actual
• current
• extant