subsistence

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

subsistence
    n 1: minimal (or marginal) resources for subsisting; "social
         security provided only a bare subsistence"
    2: a means of surviving; "farming is a hard means of
       subsistence"
    3: the state of existing in reality; having substance

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Subsistence \Sub*sist"ence\, n. [Cf. F. subsistance, L.
   subsistentia.]
   1. Real being; existence.
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            Not only the things had subsistence, but the very
            images were of some creatures existing.
                                                  --Stillingfleet.
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   2. Inherency; as, the subsistence of qualities in bodies.
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   3. That which furnishes support to animal life; means of
      support; provisions, or that which produces provisions;
      livelihood; as, a meager subsistence.
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            His viceroy could only propose to himself a
            comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his
            province.                             --Addison.
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   4. (Theol.) Same as {Hypostasis}, 2. --Hooker.
      [1913 Webster]

101 Moby Thesaurus words for "subsistence": Lenten, Spartan, TLC, abstemious, accommodation, accommodations, aliment, alimentation, alimony, ascetic, austere, bed, bed and board, being, board, board and room, bread, bread and butter, care, daily bread, dwarfed, dwarfish, economic support, endowment, ens, entity, esse, essence, exiguous, existence, facilities, food, frugal, impoverished, jejune, keep, lean, life, limited, livelihood, living, lodgings, maintenance, manna, materiality, meager, mean, meat, miserly, mothering, narrow, niggardly, nourishment, nurture, nutriment, occurrence, paltry, parsimonious, poor, presence, price support, provision, puny, rations, salt, scant, scanty, scrawny, scrimp, scrimpy, skimp, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, spare, sparing, starvation, stingy, stinted, straitened, stunted, subsidization, subsidy, subsisting, substantiality, subvention, support, survival, sustainment, sustenance, sustentation, tender loving care, thin, unnourishing, unnutritious, upkeep, victuals, watered, watery