Nonexistent

How to spell nonexistent

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce nonexistent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nonexistent mean?

1. adjectiveNot existing or not real; having no actual being or presence.

Nonexistent in a sentence

• The promised refund turned out to be nonexistent, and no money ever arrived.

• Customer support at that company is practically nonexistent after six in the evening.

Where does nonexistent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built from the Latin negative prefix non, meaning simply 'not', attached to a form of the verb existere, which literally meant 'to step out' or 'to stand forth', from ex 'out' and sistere 'to take a stand'. From the idea of standing forth came the sense of 'to have being' or 'to be real', which English absorbed in 'exist' during the early 1600s. The adjective 'existent', meaning 'having actual being', followed, taking the Latin present participle ending -ent. Adding the negating prefix produced 'nonexistent', describing something that has no being at all, a construction that became common in English by the 1800s. The familiar relatives 'exist', 'existence', and 'existential' all share the same Latin root, and the spelling trap lives in that final syllable: it is -ent, never -ant, because the Latin participle carried the e.

How the word is built

• non- (not)
• exist (root, from Latin existere: to stand out, to be)
• -ent (adjective suffix)