Ex*ist"ence (?), n. [Cf. F. existence.]
1.
The state of existing or being; actual possession of being; continuance in being; as, the existence of body and of soul in union; the separate existence of the soul; immortal existence.
The main object of our existence.
Lubbock.
2.
Continued or repeated manifestation; occurrence, as of events of any kind; as, the existence of a calamity or of a state of war.
The existence therefore, of a phenomenon, is but another word for its being perceived, or for the inferred possibility of perceiving it.
J. S. Mill.
3.
That which exists; a being; a creature; an entity; as, living existences.
© Webster 1913.