existential

English

Etymology

From Old French existence.

Adjective

existential (not comparable)

  1. Of, or relating to existence.
  2. Based on experience; empirical.
    • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture I:
      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 ...
  3. (philosophy) Of, or relating to existentialism.
  4. (linguistics) Relating to part of a clause that indicates existence, e.g. "there is".

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Further reading

  • "existential" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 123.
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