sub·sist·ence

[suhb-sis-tuhns]
noun
1.
the state or fact of subsisting.
2.
the state or fact of existing.
3.
the providing of sustenance or support.
4.
means of supporting life; a living or livelihood.
5.
the source from which food and other items necessary to exist are obtained.
6.
Philosophy.
a.
existence, especially of an independent entity.
b.
the quality of having timeless or abstract existence.
c.
mode of existence or that by which a substance is individualized.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin subsistentia; see subsist, -ence

in·ter·sub·sist·ence, noun
non·sub·sist·ence, noun
pre·sub·sist·ence, noun
self-sub·sist·ence, noun

subsidence, subsistence.


3. survival, maintenance, nourishment.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To subsistence
00:10
Subsistence is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
Collins
World English Dictionary
subsistence (səbˈsɪstəns) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  the means by which one maintains life
2.  the act or condition of subsisting
3.  a thing that has real existence
4.  the state of being inherent
5.  philosophy See also nonbeing an inferior mode of being ascribed to the references of general terms which do not in fact exist

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

subsistence
early 15c., "existence, independence," from L.L. subsistentia "substance, reality," from L. subsistens, prp. of subsistere "stand still or firm," from sub "under, up to" + sistere "to assume a standing position," from stare "to stand" (see assist). Properly a loan-translation
of Gk. hypostasis "subsistence," lit. "anything placed under." Meaning "provision of support for animal life" is from 1640s. Subsist (v.) is attested from 1540s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
If you could cure his defect, he would be without a means of subsistence, he
  would have no livelihood.
With little means of subsistence or livelihood in the delta countryside, many
  of the tribal members have migrated to the cities.
First, urbanization and industrialization made the poor more dependent on
  public charity for a minimum level of subsistence.
Among the first to get their nets wet are the subsistence fishers who live on
  and near the bay.
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