MEANING
1. To maintain life, often on limited food or resources.
2. To exist, persist, or remain in effect.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- subsist on rations
- subsist on little
On the page
They subsisted on the remaining rations until the thaw.
She had subsisted on irregular work through the years of searching.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- subsist
- Past tense
- subsisted
- Past participle
- subsisted
- Present participle
- subsisting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- subsist
- Present continuous
- am/is/are subsisting
- Present perfect
- have/has subsisted
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been subsisting
- Past
- subsisted
- Past continuous
- was/were subsisting
- Past perfect
- had subsisted
- Past perfect continuous
- had been subsisting
- Future
- will subsist
- Future continuous
- will be subsisting
- Future perfect
- will have subsisted
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been subsisting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: subsist; subsists; subsisted; subsisted; subsisting Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: subsists.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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