igˈzist, eg- intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Latin existere, exsistere to step forth, emerge, come into being, exist, from ex- ex- (I) + sistere to cause to stand; akin to Latin stare to stand — more at stand
1. : to have actual or real being whether material or spiritual : have being in space and time
by whom we exist and cease to be — Shakespeare
2. : to have being in any specified condition or place or with respect to any understood limitation
salt exists in solution in the sea
queer notions exist in his mind
3. : to continue to be : maintain being
some industrial activity does exist in the urban fringe — N.R.Heiden
4. : to have life or the functions of vitality : live
men cannot exist without oxygen
5.
[translation of Danish eksistere & German existieren ]
in existentialism : to have contingent but free and responsible being ; also : to live as one that has such being