Link Centre Dictionary

subsistence

sub·sis·tence

UK/səbˈsɪstəns/ US/sʌˈbsɪstʌns/ fairly common

noun

1.

minimal (or marginal) resources for subsisting

  • “social security provided only a bare subsistence”
2.

a means of surviving

  • “farming is a hard means of subsistence”
3.

the state of existing in reality; having substance

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • subsistence crop
  • subsistence economy
  • subsistence farming
  • subsistence level

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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.