English Explanatory Dictionary

subsistence

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Real being; existence.
  2. The act of maintaining oneself at a minimum level.
  3. Inherency.
  4. Something (food, water, money, etc.) that is required to stay alive.
  5. Embodiment or personification or hypostasis of an underlying principle or quality.

Pronunciation

/səbˈsɪstəns/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-subsistence.wav

Word forms

subsistence subsistences subsistance

Etymology

From Middle English subsistence; partly from Middle French subsistence (modern French subsistance) and partly from its etymon Late Latin subsistentia (“substance, reality, in Medieval Latin also stability”), from Latin subsistēns, present participle of subsistere (“to continue, subsist”). Perhaps also partly from subsist + -ence.

Synonyms

hypostasis sustenance

Related words

subsist subsistent

Derived words

consubsistence nonsubsistence subsistence crop subsistence economy subsistence farming subsistence level subsistential
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