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existential

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 16 February 2026

Etymology

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The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin existentialis, exsistentialis (“coming into or relating to existence”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming nouns of verbal action). Existentialis, exsistentialis are derived from Late Latin existentia, exsistentia (“existence”) + Latin -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship);[1] 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.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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existential (comparative more existential, superlative most existential)

  1. (chiefly logic, philosophy)
    1. Of or relating to existence.
      Antonym: nonexistential
      • 1656, [attributed to Philip King], The Surfeit. To A B C, London: […] Edw[ard] Dod […], →OCLC, §. 4, page 33:
        The third univerſal is appetite; every perfect and imperfect living creature acquires ſuſtenance to eate and drink. For exiſtential or ſenſual, I grant many, that there is a Sun that ſhineth, that the fire heateth, &c. yet a blind man and the Paralytick denies both.
      • 1818, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Essay II”, in The Friend: A Series of Essays, […] to Aid in the Formation of Fixed Principles in Politics, Morals, and Religion, with Literary Amusements Interspersed. […], new edition, volume III, London: […] [S. Curtis] for Rest Fenner, […], →OCLC, footnote, pages 96–97:
        [T]he essential cause of fiendish guilt, when it makes itself existential and peripheric— […] I find the only explanation of a moral phænomenon not very uncommon in the last moments of condemned felons—viz. the obstinate denial, not of the main guilt, which might be accounted for by ordinary motives, but of some particular act, which had been proved beyond all possibility of doubt, and attested by the criminal's own accomplices and fellow-sufferers in their last confessions: […]
      • 2014 March 3, Benedict Carey, “LSD, reconsidered for therapy”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 August 2025:
        Most of the subjects had terminal cancer, and several died within a year after the trial—but not before having a mental adventure that appeared to have eased the existential gloom of their last days.
      2. Concerning the very existence of something, especially with regard to evading extinction.
        an existential risk or threat
        • 1977, Joan E. Sieber, “Development of the Concept of Anxiety”, in Joan E. Sieber; Harold F. O’Neil, Jr.; Sigmund Tobias, Anxiety, Learning, and Instruction, New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, published 2009, →DOI, →ISBN:
          [Karl] Jaspers' main concern has been with existential dread, which he regards not as a symptom of mental illness, but as a result of rejecting religious faith. He proposes that man's only way out of existential dread is through a "leap into faith" which reconciles man with himself and with God, and provides an experience of the absolute which transcends mere sense experience.
        • 2015, J[ames] A. Eaton [et al.], “Trade-driven Extinctions and Near-extinctions of Avian Taxa in Sundaic Indonesia”, in Forktail: Journal of Asian Ornithology, volume 31, Bedford, Bedfordshire: Oriental Bird Club, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 1:
          Here, therefore, we seek to assemble and assess the evidence to provide an overview of how serious trade is as an existential threat to avian taxa in Sundaic Indonesia.
        • 2021 December 13, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time‎[2], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 December 2021:
          To [Elon] Musk, his vast fortune is a mere side effect of his ability not just to see but to do things others cannot, in arenas where the stakes are existential.
      3. Of an assertion, etc.: assuming or suggesting the existence of something.
        • 1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 4:
          In recent books on logic, distinction is made between two orders of inquiry concerning anything. First, what is the nature of it? how did it come about? what is its constitution, origin, and history? And second, What is its importance, meaning, or significance, now that it is once here? The answer to the one question is given in an existential judgment or proposition. The answer to the other is a proposition of value, what the Germans call a Werthurtheil, or what we may, if we like, denominate a spiritual judgment.
    2. Of or relating to existentialism (“a philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices”).
      Antonyms: nonmetaphysical, nonphenomenal, noumenal
  2. (linguistics) Relating to part of a clause that indicates existence (for example, there is).

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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existential (plural existentials)

  1. (linguistics) Ellipsis of existential clause (“a clause that indicates the existence of something”).
    • 2014, Tuomas Huumo, Liina Lindström, “Partitives across Constructions: On the Range of Uses of the Finnish and Estonian ‘Partitive Subjects’”, in Silvia Luraghi, Tuomas Huumo, editors, Partitive Cases and Related Categories (Empirical Approaches to Language Typology), Berlin; Boston, Mass.: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, →ISSN, part II (Uralic Languages), abstract, page 153:
      In classical accounts of Finnish and Estonian grammar, the possibility of using the so-called partitive subject has been one definitional criterion for the category of existential clauses. […] We argue that existentials form a radial category, with a prototype and less canonical instances, where the prototype is clearly definable but the actual borderline between existentials and other clause types is fuzzy.
  2. (programming) Ellipsis of existential type (“in a type system: a type that hides the underlying concrete type(s)”).
    Coordinate term: generic

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “existential, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “existential, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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