What does “exist” mean?
- 1
verbto be real or present in the world
Do you think life exists on other planets?
- 2
verbto stay alive, especially with very little money or food
They existed on bread and soup for weeks.
Exist at a glance
- Part of speech
- verb
- CEFR level
- B1 (intermediate)
- Pronunciation
- /ɪɡˈzɪst/ · ig-ZIST
How to use “exist” correctly
“Exist” is not used in continuous forms: say “the problem exists”, not “the problem is existing”.
Common phrases with “exist”
- still exist
- no longer exist
- cease to exist
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Word family
- existence
- existing
- existent
“exist” is on these word lists
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