Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Still in existence; not destroyed, lost, or extinct.
- adjective Archaic Standing out; projecting.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Standing out or above any surface; protruding.
- Conspicuous; manifest; evident; publicly known.
- Now being; now subsisting; still existing; not destroyed or lost: as, the extant works of the Greek philosophers.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Standing out or above any surface; protruded.
- adjective Still existing; not destroyed or lost; outstanding.
- adjective obsolete Publicly known; conspicuous.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Still in
existence . - adjective Currently
existing ; not havingdisappeared . - adjective Still
alive ; notextinct .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective still in existence; not extinct or destroyed or lost
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Well, there's somewhat of a Gap in extant organisms between humans and other apes.
Assessing Fault 2009
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How about making them remove and dispose of every “Obama/Biden” bumper sticker and sign in extant today?
These ‘I regret my 2008 vote’ pieces are going to be excruciating… | RedState 2010
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The jaw bones in extant reptiles can transmit sound to the inner ear.
A New Book 2010
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Every newly discovered species, extinct or extant, is a potential falsification.
A New Book 2010
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If you can't follow why it would be an evolutionary advantage in extant organisms, then there is no way to discuss the forces that led to its origin.
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Well, there's somewhat of a Gap in extant organisms between humans and other apes.
Assessing Fault 2009
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The nested hierarchy is pervasive in extant and extinct life, morphology and genomics.
Beckwith on ID 2008
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No musical setting has survived for the words as they appear in extant published versions of the Obi melodrama.
Introduction 2002
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The letters still extant from the princes of the East to Sapor are manifest forgeries; 151 nor is it natural to suppose that a jealous monarch should, even in the person of a rival, thus publicly degrade the majesty of kings.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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The most ancient act of donation that pretends to be extant, is that of the emperor Lewis the Pious,
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
brtom commented on the word extant
For all the creatures mentiond by Pliny are somewhere or other extant to the glory of God. (from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart)
December 31, 2007
rolig commented on the word extant
For me this is still a very useful and usable word. I would be sorry to see it relegated to archaic status. And Smart's use of it here to mean "not yet extinct" is, well, very smart.
December 31, 2007
milosrdenstvi commented on the word extant
I use this word all the time, mostly as a substitute for "existent".
July 28, 2009
madmouth commented on the word extant
I thought that, these days, it's pretty domain-specific (referring to surviving artifacts within art or archaeology).
July 28, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word extant
Or history. :) (Such as documents, records of specific events, etc.) It actually is not a simple synonym for existent, though the meanings overlap a bit.
July 28, 2009
jwjarvis commented on the word extant
these professional critiques can be supplemented and compared to the still extant defenses written by doctors and leaders of fraternal societies.
September 14, 2010
Akki6192 commented on the word extant
extant..just put IS in between 'x' and 't..exIStnat'
November 13, 2013
ry commented on the word extant
yeah, but it's spelled existent. and they don't mean precisely the same thing.
November 13, 2013
mohitanand commented on the word extant
still in existence (usually refers to documents).
Despite many bookstores closing, experts predict that some form of book dealing will still be extant generations from now
October 11, 2016