EXISTENCE
1. BEING, IN THE ABSTRACT
1. Existence — N. existence, being, entity, ens [Lat.], esse [Lat.],
subsistence.
reality, actuality; positiveness &c adj.; fact, matter of fact,
sober reality; truth &c 494; actual existence.
presence &c (existence in space) 186; coexistence &c 120.
stubborn fact, hard fact; not a dream &c 515; no joke.
center of life, essence, inmost nature, inner reality, vital
principle.
[Science of existence], ontology.
V. exist, be; have being &c n.; subsist, live, breathe, stand, obtain,
be the case; occur &c (event) 151; have place, prevail; find oneself,
pass the time, vegetate.
consist in, lie in; be comprised in, be contained in, be
constituted by.
come into existence &c n.; arise &c (begin) 66; come forth &c
(appear) 446.
become &c (be converted) 144; bring into existence &c 161.
abide, continue, endure, last, remain, stay.
Adj. existing &c v.; existent, under the sun; in existence &c n.;
extant; afloat, afoot, on foot, current, prevalent; undestroyed.
real, actual, positive, absolute; true &c 494; substantial,
substantive; self-existing, self-existent; essential.
well-founded, well-grounded; unideal†, unimagined; not potential &c
2; authentic.
Adv. actually &c adj.; in fact, in point of fact, in reality; indeed;
de facto, ipso facto.
Phr. ens rationis [Lat.]; ergo sum cogito [Lat.], thinkest thou
existence doth depend on time? [Byron].
2. Inexistence — N. inexistence†; nonexistence, nonsubsistence;
nonentity, nil; negativeness &c adj.; nullity; nihility†, nihilism;
tabula rasa [Lat.], blank; abeyance; absence &c 187; no such thing &c
4; nonbeing, nothingness, oblivion.
annihilation; extinction &c (destruction) 162; extinguishment,
extirpation, Nirvana, obliteration.
V. not exist &c 1; have no existence &c 1; be null and void; cease to
exist &c 1; pass away, perish; be extinct, become extinct &c adj.; die
out; disappear &c 449; melt away, dissolve, leave not a rack behind;
go, be no more; die &c 360.
annihilate, render null, nullify; abrogate &c 756; destroy &c 162;
take away; remove &c (displace) 185; obliterate, extirpate.
Adj. inexistent†, nonexistent &c 1; negative, blank; missing, omitted;
absent &c 187; insubstantial, shadowy, spectral, visionary.
unreal, potential, virtual; baseless, in nubibus [Lat.];
unsubstantial &c 4; vain.
unborn, uncreated†, unbegotten, unconceived, unproduced, unmade.
perished, annihilated, &c v.; extinct, exhausted, gone, lost,
vanished, departed, gone with the wind; defunct &c (dead) 360.
fabulous, ideal &c (imaginary) 515, supposititious &c 514.
Adv. negatively, virtually &c adj..
Phr. non ens [Lat.].
2. BEING, IN THE CONCRETE
3. Substantiality — N. substantiality, hypostasis; person, being,
thing, object, article, item; something, a being, an existence;
creature, body, substance, flesh and blood, stuff, substratum; matter
&c 316; corporeity†, element, essential nature, groundwork, materiality,
substantialness, vital part.
[Totality of existences], world &c 318; plenum.
Adj. substantive, substantial; hypostatic; personal, bodily, tangible
&c (material) 316; corporeal.
Adv. substantially &c adj.; bodily, essentially.
4. Unsubstantiality — N. unsubstantiality†, insubstantiality;
nothingness, nihility†; no degree, no part, no quantity, no thing.
nothing, naught, nil, nullity, zero, cipher, no one, nobody; never
a one, ne'er a one [Contr.]; no such thing, none in the world; nothing
whatever, nothing at all, nothing on earth; not a particle &c
(smallness) 32; all talk, moonshine, stuff and nonsense; matter of no
importance, matter of no consequence.
thing of naught, man of straw, John Doe and Richard Roe, faggot
voter; nominis umbra [Lat.], nonentity; flash in the pan, vox et
praeterea nihil [Lat.].
shadow; phantom &c (fallacy of vision) 443; dream &c (imagination)
515; ignis fatuus &c (luminary) 423 [Lat.]; such stuff as dreams are
made of [Tempest]; air, thin air, vapor; bubble &c 353; baseless fabric
of a vision [Tempest]; mockery.
hollowness, blank; void &c (absence) 187.
inanity, fool's paradise.
V. vanish, evaporate, fade, dissolve, melt away; disappear &c 449.
Adj. unsubstantial; baseless, groundless; ungrounded; without
foundation, having no foundation.
visionary &c (imaginary) 515; immaterial &c 137; spectral &c 980;
dreamy; shadowy; ethereal, airy; cloud built, cloud formed; gossamery,
illusory, insubstantial, unreal.
vacant, vacuous; empty &c 187; eviscerated; blank, hollow;
nominal; null; inane.
Phr. there's nothing in it; an ocean of dreams without a sound
[Shelley].
3. FORMAL EXISTENCE
Internal conditions
5. Intrinsicality — N. intrinsicality†, inbeing†, inherence, inhesion†;
subjectiveness; ego; egohood†; essence, noumenon; essentialness† &c
adj.; essential part, quintessence, incarnation, quiddity, gist, pith,
marrow, core, sap, lifeblood, backbone, heart, soul; important part &c
(importance) 642.
principle, nature, constitution, character, type, quality, crasis†,
diathesis†.
habit; temper, temperament; spirit, humor, grain; disposition.
endowment, capacity; capability &c (power) 157.
moods, declensions, features, aspects; peculiarities &c
(speciality) 79; idiosyncrasy, oddity; idiocrasy &c (tendency) 176;
diagnostics.
V. be in the blood, run in the blood; be born so; be intrinsic &c adj..
Adj. derived from within, subjective; intrinsic, intrinsical†;
fundamental, normal; implanted, inherent, essential, natural; innate,
inborn, inbred, ingrained, inwrought; coeval with birth, genetous†,
haematobious†, syngenic†; radical, incarnate, thoroughbred, hereditary,
inherited, immanent; congenital, congenite†; connate, running in the
blood; ingenerate†, ingenite†; indigenous; in the grain &c n.; bred in
the bone, instinctive; inward, internal &c 221; to the manner born;
virtual.
characteristic &c (special) 79, (indicative) 550; invariable,
incurable, incorrigible, ineradicable, fixed.
Adv. intrinsically &c adj.; at bottom, in the main, in effect,
practically, virtually, substantially, au fond; fairly.
Phr. character is higher than intellect [Emerson]; come give us a taste
of your quality [Hamlet]; magnos homines virtute metimur non fortuna
[Lat.] [Nepos]; non numero haec judicantur sed pondere [Lat.] [Cicero];
vital spark of heavenly flame [Pope].
External conditions
6. Extrinsicality — N. extrinsicality†, objectiveness, non ego;
extraneousness &c 57; accident; appearance, phenomenon &c 448.
Adj. derived from without; objective; extrinsic, extrinsical†;
extraneous &c (foreign) 57; modal, adventitious; ascititious†,
adscititious†; incidental, accidental, nonessential; contingent,
fortuitous.
implanted, ingrafted†; inculcated, infused.
outward, apparent &c (external) 220.
Adv. extrinsically &c adj..
4. MODAL EXISTENCE
Absolute
7. State — N. state, condition, category, estate, lot, ease, trim,
mood, pickle, plight, temper; aspect &c (appearance) 448, dilemma,
pass, predicament.
constitution, habitude, diathesis†; frame, fabric &c 329; stamp,
set, fit, mold, mould.
mode, modality, schesis†; form &c (shape) 240.
tone, tenor, turn; trim, guise, fashion, light, complexion, style,
character.
V. be in a state, possess a state, enjoy a state, labor under a state
&c n.; be on a footing, do, fare; come to pass.
Adj. conditional, modal, formal; structural, organic.
Adv. conditionally &c adj.; as the matter stands, as things are; such
being the case &c 8.
Relative
8. Circumstance — N. circumstance, situation, phase, position,
posture, attitude, place, point; terms; regime; footing, standing,
status.
occasion, juncture, conjunctive; contingency &c (event) 151.
predicament; emergence, emergency; exigency, crisis, pinch, pass,
push; occurrence; turning point.
bearings, how the land lies.
surroundings, context, environment 232; location 184.
contingency, dependence (uncertainty) 475; causation 153,
attribution 155.
Adj. circumstantial; given, conditional, provisional; critical; modal;
contingent, incidental; adventitious &c (extrinsic) 6; limitative†.
Adv. in the circumstances, under the circumstances &c n., the
circumstances, conditions &c 7; thus, in such wise.
accordingly; that being the case, such being the case, in view of
the circumstances; that being so, sith†, since, seeing that.
as matters stand; as things go, as times go.
conditionally, provided, if, in case; if so, if so be, if it be
so; depending on circumstances, in certain circumstances, under certain
conditions; if it so happen, if it so turn out; in the event of; in
such a contingency, in such a case, in such an event; provisionally,
unless, without.
according to circumstances, according to the occasion; as it may
happen, as it may turn out, as it may be; as the case may be, as the
wind blows; pro re nata [Lat.].
Phr. yet are my sins not those of circumstance [Lytton].