Inexistence

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌɪnɪɡˈzɪstəns/

Definitions

1. The state of not existing or having no being in reality
2. The quality or condition of not being present, actual, or real in any form
3. The absence of existence or presence in the material or conceptual world

Etymology: "Inexistence" is a plain compound: the prefix "in-" attached to "existence," which comes from Latin "existere," meaning "to stand forth" or "to emerge," built from "ex-" ("out") and "sistere" ("to stand"). The prefix "in-" is the one that most often means "not" in English, so "inexistence" literally means "not-existence," the state of not existing. The ambiguity in the source over whether the prefix descends from Latin "in-" ("into") or from the negating "in-" reflects how English has used the same spelling for both. Because the prefix works so transparently, the word needs little explanation: it names the absence of being in the same way "nonexistence" does. Its use is largely philosophical and theological, where writers have needed a noun for the condition of something that is not, rather than merely a description of it.

Synonyms: nonexistence, absence

Antonyms: existence, presence