existence

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

State of being

Nouns

1. existence, life, being, entity, ens, esse, subsistence, presence; ontology, existentialism.

2. (fact of existence) reality, actuality, authenticity; positiveness, fact, matter of fact, truth; simple, cold, bald, or stubborn fact; premise; not adream, no joke, sober reality, actual existence; historicity. Informal, what's what, nitty-gritty, grim reality.

3. details, particulars, data, facts. Informal, dope, scoop.

Verbs — exist, be; have being, subsist, live, breathe; stand, obtain, be the case; consist in, lie in, have place, prevail, endure, find oneself; vegetate, come alive or to life; come or bring into existence (see occurrence).

Adjectives

1. existing, existent, extant; in existence, current, prevalent.

2. real, actual, positive, absolute, authentic, true; big or large as life, big as life and twice as natural; in person, in the flesh; matter-of-fact; substantial, substantive, enduring, well-founded.

Adverbs — actually, really, truly, positively, in fact, in point of fact, for that matter, in reality, indeed, de facto, ipso facto; as far as that goes or is concerned.

Quotations — I summed up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram (Oscar Wilde), The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness (Vladimir Nabokov), What is hope? nothing but the paint on the face of Existence (Lord Byron), Consciousness... is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known (Roger Penrose).

Antonyms, see nonexistence.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The carrying on of life]

Syn. being, living, survival; see continuation 1 , life 1 .

2. [The state of being]

Syn. presence, actuality, occurrence, permanence; see reality 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

being, life, subsistence, presence, reality, actuality. ''. . . a party, you join after it's started and you leave before it's finished.''—Elsa Maxwell. ''A series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished master-piece.''—Vladimir Nabokov.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The fact or state of existing or of being actual: actuality, being, entity, reality. See BE, REAL. 2. The period during which someone or something exists: day (often used in plural), duration, life, lifetime, span, term. See LIVE, TIME. 3. One that exists independently: being, entity, existent, individual, object, something, thing. See BE, THING.