Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state or quality of having existence: synonym: existence.
  • noun The totality of all things that exist.
  • noun A person.
  • noun An individual form of life; an organism.
  • noun An imaginary, conjectural, or supernatural creature.
  • noun All the qualities constituting one that exists; the essence.
  • noun One's basic or essential nature.
  • conjunction Because; since. Often used with as or that.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A living; livelihood; means of subsistence; home.
  • noun Existence in its most comprehensive sense, as opposed to non-existence; existence, whether real or only in thought.
  • noun In metaphysics, subsistence in a state not necessarily amounting to actual existence; rudimentary existence.
  • noun That which exists; anything that is: as, inanimate beings.
  • noun Life; conscious existence.
  • noun Lifetime; mortal existence.
  • noun That which has life; a living existence, in contradistinction to what is without life; a creature.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • Existing.
  • adverb Obs. or Colloq. Since; inasmuch as.
  • noun Existence, as opposed to nonexistence; state or sphere of existence.
  • noun That which exists in any form, whether it be material or spiritual, actual or ideal; living existence, as distinguished from a thing without life.
  • noun obsolete Lifetime; mortal existence.
  • noun Prov. Eng. An abode; a cottage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of be.
  • noun A living creature.
  • noun The state or fact of existence, consciousness, or life, or something in such a state.
  • noun philosophy That which has actuality (materially or in concept).
  • noun philosophy One's basic nature, or the qualities thereof; essence or personality.
  • conjunction obsolete Given that; since.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently
  • noun the state or fact of existing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originated 1250–1300 from Middle English being; see be + -ing.

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