from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Exist \Ex*ist"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Existed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Existing}.] [L. existere, exsistere, to step out or forth,
emerge, appear, exist; ex out + sistere to cause to stand, to
set, put, place, stand still, fr. stare to stand: cf. F.
exister. See {Stand}.]
1. To be as a fact and not as a mode; to have an actual or
real being, whether material or spiritual.
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Who now, alas! no more is missed
Than if he never did exist. --Swift.
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To conceive the world . . . to have existed from
eternity. --South.
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2. To be manifest in any manner; to continue to be; as, great
evils existed in his reign.
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3. To live; to have life or the functions of vitality; as,
men can not exist in water, nor fishes on land.
Syn: See {Be}.
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