existence

Etymology

From Middle English existence, from Old French existence, from Late Latin existentia (“existence”), from existēns, from existō, exsistō (“I am, I exist”), from ex (“out”) + sistere (“to set, place”) (related to stare (“to stand, to be stood”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti, from the root *steh₂- (“stand”). Cognate with Spanish existencia, French existence, German Existenz. Morphologically exist + -ence.

noun

1. The state of being, existing, or occurring; beinghood.
   In order to destroy evil, we must first acknowledge its existence.
   The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier. 2012 March-April, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 146
   The ancients said, “A ruler should exist for the existence of the people.” The famous thinker, Mencius noted, “The people are the most valuable, then the country, and the ruler comes last.” June 29, 2020, Wendi, “The Loyal General Yue Fei”, in Minghui
2. Empirical reality; the substance of the physical universe. (Dictionary of Philosophy; 1968)