existential
🇺🇸 /ˌɛˌgzɪˈstɛnʃəl/
📖 Definitions
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adjective
Relating to existence or the nature of being; concerned with questions of human existence, purpose, and meaning.; Relating to existentialism, a philosophical movement emphasizing individual freedom, choice, and responsibility.; Posing a threat to the very existence or survival of something; fundamental and potentially catastrophic.; Based on or derived from personal experience; experiential.; In logic, relating to or asserting existence, as in an existential quantifier.
🔗 Details
Word forms
Collocations
existential crisisexistential threatexistential dreadexistential questionexistential riskexistential anxiety
Derivatives
existentialismexistentialistexistentiallyexistenceexistexistent
Synonyms
ontologicalmetaphysicalphilosophicalfundamental
Commonly confused
existentialist
EN: 'Existentialist' refers specifically to the philosophical movement or its adherents, while 'existential' is broader, relating to existence itself or to questions of meaning and being.
existent
EN: 'Existent' means currently existing or present, while 'existential' relates to the nature or philosophy of existence.
Spelling tips
EN: Remember the '-ential' ending (not '-encial'). The word derives from 'existence' but drops the '-ence' and adds '-ential'.
💬 Examples
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The novel explores existential questions about the meaning of life and death.
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Sartre and Camus are considered major existential thinkers of the twentieth century.
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Climate change is often described as an existential threat to human civilization.
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Her existential understanding of grief came only after losing her closest friend.
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The existential quantifier in formal logic asserts that at least one element satisfies a given property.