Link Centre Dictionary

existential

exis·ten·tial

UK/ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃl̩/ US/ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛn(t)ʃəl/ uncommon

adjective

1.

derived from experience or the experience of existence

  • “the rich experiential content of the teachings of the older philosophers” Benjamin Farrington
  • “formal logicians are not concerned with existential matters” John Dewey
Synonyms
Similar
2.

of or as conceived by existentialism

  • “an existential moment of choice”
3.

relating to or dealing with existence (especially with human existence)

Origin

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin existentiālis, exsistentiālis (“coming into or relating to existence”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming nouns of verbal action). Existentiālis, exsistentiālis are derived from Late Latin existentia, exsistentia (“existence”) + Latin -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship); and existentia, exsistentia from Latin existēns, exsistēns (“being, existing; appearing, emerging; becoming”) (the present active participle of existō, exsistō (“to be, exist; to appear, emerge; to become”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + sistō (“to cause to stand; to place, set; to halt, stop”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”))) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). The noun is derived from the adjective.

Phrases

  • existential crisis
  • existential instantiation
  • existential nihilism
  • existential quantifier
  • existential risk
  • singular existential statement

Related words

Word family

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.