exists definition

1. To be as a fact and not as a mode; to have an actual or real being, whether material or spiritual. "Who now, alas! no more is missed Than if he never did exist." (Swift) "To conceive the world . . . To have existed from eternity." (South)

2. To be manifest in any manner; to continue to be; as, great evils existed in his reign.

3. To live; to have life or the functions of vitality; as, men can not exist water, nor fishes on land.

Synonyms: See Be.

Origin: L. Existere, exsistere, to step out or forth, emerge, appear, exist; ex out + sistere to cause to stand, to set, put, place, stand still, fr. Stare to stand: cf. F. Exister. See Stand.

(01 Mar 1998)