From Middle English existence, from Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia, from existēns, from existō, exsistō, from ex ("out") + sistere (related to stare), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti, from the root *steh₂- ("stand").

Morphologically exist + -ence.

• (America) IPA: /ɛɡˈzɪs.təns/, /ɪɡˈzɪs.təns/

existence

1. The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.

   Synonyms: presence

   In order to destroy evil, we must first acknowledge its existence.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC ↗, page 71 ↗:

     Fortunate it is for the tranquillity of the new-born infant, if he have any turn for philosophy, that he understands none of the nonsense consecrated by old usage to the commencement of existence.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.

2. Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)

• (state of being) See also Thesaurus:existence

• (antonym(s) of “state of being”): nonexistence, nothingness; See also Thesaurus:inexistence

• exist
• aseity
• existential

• French: existence
• German: Existenz, Dasein, Sein
• Italian: esistenza
• Portuguese: existência
• Russian: существова́ние
• Spanish: existencia