subsistence

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “subsistence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Alternative forms

• subsistance (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English subsistence; partly from Middle French subsistence (modern French subsistance) and partly from its etymon Late Latin subsistentia (“substance, reality, in Medieval Latin also stability”), from Latin subsistēns, present participle of subsistere (“to continue, subsist”). Perhaps also partly from subsist +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səbˈsɪstəns/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

subsistence (countable and uncountable, plural subsistences)

1. Real being; existence.
   • 1686, Edward Stillingfleet, the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome:

     the human nature loseth its proper subsistence , and is assumed into the subsistence of the divine nature

2. The act of maintaining oneself at a minimum level.
3. Inherency.

   the subsistence of qualities in bodies

4. Something (food, water, money, etc.) that is required to stay alive.
   • 1788, Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist, Dawson, Federalist 79, page 548:

     In the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will.

   • 1716 February 3 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 10. Monday, January 23. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:

     His viceroy could only propose to himself a comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his province.

5. (theology) Embodiment or personification or hypostasis of an underlying principle or quality.

Synonyms

• (real being): See also Thesaurus:existence
• (something required to stay alive): sustenance
• (theology): hypostasis

Derived terms

• consubsistence
• subsistence economy
• subsistence farming
• subsistential

Related terms

• subsist
• subsistent

Translations

means of support

• Arabic: كَفَاف (kafāf)
• Bulgarian: препитание (bg) n (prepitanie)
• Catalan: subsistència f
• Czech: obživa f
• German: Auskommen (de) n, Lebensunterhalt (de) m
• Interlingua: subsistentia
• Irish: cothabháil f
• Portuguese: subsistência (pt) f
• Romanian: subzistență (ro), mijloace de trai
• Russian: прожи́тие (ru) n (prožítije), прожи́ток (ru) m (prožítok), пропита́ние (ru) n (propitánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: издржавање

  Roman: izdržavanje (sh)

• Spanish: subsistencia (es) f
• Swedish: underhåll (sv)

Further reading

• “subsistence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “subsistence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.