non-existentadj.n.
/ˌnɒnᵻɡˈzɪst(ə)nt/, /ˌnɒnɛɡˈzɪst(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˌnɑnəɡˈzɪst(ə)nt/ A. adj.
That does not exist or have being.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adjective]
pretended1489
Oudemian streeta1586
not-being1594
unbeing1607
inexistent1646
non-existent1646
insubsistent1654
unented1657
unexistenta1682
non-existing1743
null1762
unexisting1785
nullibiquitous1820
non-entitous1831
beingless1835
non-entitive1872
non-entitative1889
nil1937
1646 S. Bolton Deliverance in Birth 11 God was able to bring his own promise out of contrary & even non-existent means.
1650 W. Charleton tr. J. B. van Helmont Deliramenta Catarrhi 28 Not an ascent of vapours from the stomack into the brain, not a miscelany of non-existent juices, not a feigned Defluxion of Phlegme mixt with Choler.
a1682 Sir T. Browne Christian Morals (1716) iii. 75 What is and will be latent is little better than non existent.
1787 J. Hawkins Life Johnson 160 He sometimes raised subscriptions for non-existent poems.
1818–60 R. Whately Misc. Remains (1864) 82 The bread which I ate a year ago and the ambrosia of Homer's Gods are both equally non-existent at this moment.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles III. li. 188 This sound of a non-existent coach can only be heard by one of D'Urberville blood.
1917 E. Wharton Summer xii. 185 Like all the other figures peopling her meagre world he had grown non-existent to her.
1988 S. Quinn Mind of her Own ii. 43 Until the 1890s public education for girls was virtually nonexistent in Germany.
B. n.
1. A person who or thing which does not exist. Also (in extended use): a negligible person.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > that which is non-existent > a thing that does not exist
noughta1425
goat woola1522
goat's wool1550
non-ens1603
nonentity1604
non-existence1646
nothingness1652
non-existent1658
non-being1662
not-being1725
non-existenta1856
1658 R. Baxter Of Saving Faith vii. 53 This is no more their fault, then it is that they see not non-existents.
1734 I. Watts Reliquiæ Juveniles xlvii. 173 Confus'd Ideas Of Non-existents and Impossibles.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 230 The Champion's challenge to all the Non-existents, that..dispute his [sc. a prince's] Rights and Royalty.
1885 J. Martineau Types Ethical Theory (1886) I. i. i. 27 That of which there should be no idea would be ipso facto a non-existent.
1901 Philos. Rev. 10 489 We are reduced to a limiting point between two non-existents.
1991 T. Mo Redundancy of Courage xxviii. 384 These foreign spooks, these non-existents on the pay-rolls of any Western army, were part of that scheme.
2. With the. That which does not exist.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > that which is non-existent > a thing that does not exist
noughta1425
goat woola1522
goat's wool1550
non-ens1603
nonentity1604
non-existence1646
nothingness1652
non-existent1658
non-being1662
not-being1725
non-existenta1856
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. xvi. 294 Concerning Nature or the Non-Existent.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 220 I and all the world are in a difficulty about the non-existent.
1931 T. S. Moore Poems 132 Even dreamed good is sick and dying. Only the non existent is hale.
1991 A. Codrescu Belligerence 28 An Arc to commemorate the nonexistent, i. e., the future.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1646