Existential
adjective
Related to existence or living.
He's having an existential crisis; he's questioning the purpose of his life.
Often appears as...
- existential crisis
- existential question
adjective
Denoting or relating to an approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible being.
The existential philosophy focuses on the individual as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.
Often appears as...
- existential philosophy
- existential phenomenology
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
In existentialism it refers to the idea that one has the freedom to determine their own meaning and purpose in life.
The existential concept argues that individuals are free and responsible for their own choices and actions.
Often appears as...
- existential concept
- existential argument
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
Related to existence or living.
He's having an existential crisis; he's questioning the purpose of his life.
Often appears as...
- existential crisis
- existential question
adjective
Denoting or relating to an approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible being.
The existential philosophy focuses on the individual as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.
Often appears as...
- existential philosophy
- existential phenomenology
Usage tips
Academic
adjective
In existentialism it refers to the idea that one has the freedom to determine their own meaning and purpose in life.
The existential concept argues that individuals are free and responsible for their own choices and actions.
Often appears as...
- existential concept
- existential argument
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Personal Relevance
Use 'existential' to describe deep personal concerns about life's purpose or survival.
She felt an existential urge to find her true passion in life.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Negative
'Existential' may be positive, describing a discovery that affirms life's meaning.
His existential joy came from helping others.
Pro Tip 3/3Crisis Situations
'Existential' often refers to crises questioning the core of human existence.
Many novels revolve around the protagonist's existential struggle.
Pro Tip 1/3Personal Relevance
Use 'existential' to describe deep personal concerns about life's purpose or survival.
She felt an existential urge to find her true passion in life.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Negative
'Existential' may be positive, describing a discovery that affirms life's meaning.
His existential joy came from helping others.
Pro Tip 3/3Crisis Situations
'Existential' often refers to crises questioning the core of human existence.
Many novels revolve around the protagonist's existential struggle.
Pro Tip 1/3Personal Relevance
Use 'existential' to describe deep personal concerns about life's purpose or survival.
She felt an existential urge to find her true passion in life.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Always Negative
'Existential' may be positive, describing a discovery that affirms life's meaning.
His existential joy came from helping others.
Pro Tip 3/3Crisis Situations
'Existential' often refers to crises questioning the core of human existence.
Many novels revolve around the protagonist's existential struggle.
Compare with
essentialfundamentintrinsicmetaphysicalontologicalphilosophespiritualuniversal
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Video examples
This deep-sea mystery is...
So in my job, on a daily basis, I get to produce scientific evidence against existential loneliness. So when we got these first DNA sequences, from the first cruise, of pristine samples from the deep subsurface, we wanted to know where they were. So the first thing that we discovered is that they were not aliens,
Video examples
Elon Musk: A future...
by being a multi-planet species. We need to address -- Essentially, it's important to take whatever actions we can think of to address the existential risks that affect the future of consciousness. There's a whole generation coming through who seem really sad about the future. What would you say to them?
Video examples
What really matters at...
We have tons of input for designers of all stripes to work with. We know, for example, from research what's most important to people who are closer to comfort; feeling unburdened and unburdening to those they love; existential peace; and a sense of wonderment and spirituality.
Video examples
Jason Silva on Science,...
undertake if you were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life to be aware of the possibility of the search is to be on to something not to be on to something is to be in despair the search you see is existential exploration science and adventure is how we search
Video examples
The disarming case to...
and the rest of the people are pretty strange, especially when it comes to the sustainability crisis, where everyone keeps saying climate change is an existential threat and the most important issue of all, and yet they just carry on like before.
Video examples
The Doctor Who Can...
existential threat to them chimpanzees are almost certainly vulnerable to coronavirus and they probably will have a higher mortality rate than humans if it gets into their population realistically we are looking at a very real chance of losing
Video examples
My failed mission to...
No one asked for answers to the big existential questions or for proof of God or the meaning of life like I had set out to find. They didn't even ask for an end to war or global hunger. Even when they could have asked for absolutely anything,
Video examples
One woman, eight...
And she would be there, you know, kind of talking with the class, you know, talking about the, you know, the existential futility of life, you know. And we were only 11 years old, so it was not appropriate.
Video examples
Why should you read...
This monologue personifies Hamlet’s existential being torn between thought and action, unable to choose between life and death. But his endless questioning raises yet another
Video examples
The real meaning of soul...
think of this as a an agnostic approach to soul an existential one if you like an existentialist what I mean said a way to open out the idea to give it room to
Video examples
This deep-sea mystery is...
So in my job, on a daily basis, I get to produce scientific evidence against existential loneliness. So when we got these first DNA sequences, from the first cruise, of pristine samples from the deep subsurface, we wanted to know where they were. So the first thing that we discovered is that they were not aliens,
Video examples
Elon Musk: A future...
by being a multi-planet species. We need to address -- Essentially, it's important to take whatever actions we can think of to address the existential risks that affect the future of consciousness. There's a whole generation coming through who seem really sad about the future. What would you say to them?
Video examples
What really matters at...
We have tons of input for designers of all stripes to work with. We know, for example, from research what's most important to people who are closer to comfort; feeling unburdened and unburdening to those they love; existential peace; and a sense of wonderment and spirituality.
Video examples
Jason Silva on Science,...
undertake if you were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life to be aware of the possibility of the search is to be on to something not to be on to something is to be in despair the search you see is existential exploration science and adventure is how we search
Video examples
The disarming case to...
and the rest of the people are pretty strange, especially when it comes to the sustainability crisis, where everyone keeps saying climate change is an existential threat and the most important issue of all, and yet they just carry on like before.
Video examples
The Doctor Who Can...
existential threat to them chimpanzees are almost certainly vulnerable to coronavirus and they probably will have a higher mortality rate than humans if it gets into their population realistically we are looking at a very real chance of losing
Video examples
My failed mission to...
No one asked for answers to the big existential questions or for proof of God or the meaning of life like I had set out to find. They didn't even ask for an end to war or global hunger. Even when they could have asked for absolutely anything,
Video examples
One woman, eight...
And she would be there, you know, kind of talking with the class, you know, talking about the, you know, the existential futility of life, you know. And we were only 11 years old, so it was not appropriate.
Video examples
Why should you read...
This monologue personifies Hamlet’s existential being torn between thought and action, unable to choose between life and death. But his endless questioning raises yet another
Video examples
The real meaning of soul...
think of this as a an agnostic approach to soul an existential one if you like an existentialist what I mean said a way to open out the idea to give it room to
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Yemi Osinbajo
Nigerian Politician
I want to say that this business of corruption and the fight against corruption is a very serious matter, and sometimes I'm amazed that very little is being said outside of those who are saying so in government. It's an existential matter. I don't know whether it is possible to overemphasize the point, but I think it's a very crucial matter.
Quote examples
Gian Maria Volonte
Italian Actor
Being an actor is a matter of choice that, above all, takes place at an existential level: either you express the conservative structures of society and are nothing more that a tool in the hands of power, or you address the progressive components of this society in an attempt to settle a revolutionary relation between art and life.
Quote examples
Franklin Foer
American Writer
What I worry about ultimately is that when we're stripped of our privacy, when we're stripped of free will, when we start to merge with machines in a more robust way, at some point, we'll cease to be identifiably human. And therefore, I think our humanity is, in some ways, the thing that's under existential threat.
Quote examples
Jessica Rothe
American Actress
When the movie 'Sliding Doors' came out, it almost sent me into existential crisis because I think about that all the time. Like, 'Wait. If I left my house five minutes later, maybe this would have happened and I'd be on this different track of my life. How would that affect me?
Quote examples
Sonia Sotomayor
American Judge
The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn't have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.
Quote examples
Imre Kertesz
Hungarian Author
Writing changed my life. It has an existential dimension, and that's the same for every writer. Every artist has a moment of awakening, of happening upon an idea that grabs hold of you, regardless of whether you are a painter or a writer.
Quote examples
Jeremy Stoppelman
American Businessman
About every year or two, there is a moment of truth where there's some new development in the marketplace, some new technology, some sort of existential crisis. You just have to be vigilant about looking out for those moments.
Quote examples
Fei-Fei Li
Chinese Scientist
The real existential challenge is to live up to your fullest potential, along with living up to your intense sense of responsibility and to be honest to yourself about what you want.
Quote examples
Ban Ki-moon
South Korean Leader
Around the world, climate change is an existential threat - but if we harness the opportunities inherent in addressing climate change, we can reap enormous economic benefits.
Quote examples
Joe Russo
American Director
We like existentially wacky characters who exist in existential crisis.
Quote examples
Yemi Osinbajo
Nigerian Politician
I want to say that this business of corruption and the fight against corruption is a very serious matter, and sometimes I'm amazed that very little is being said outside of those who are saying so in government. It's an existential matter. I don't know whether it is possible to overemphasize the point, but I think it's a very crucial matter.
Quote examples
Gian Maria Volonte
Italian Actor
Being an actor is a matter of choice that, above all, takes place at an existential level: either you express the conservative structures of society and are nothing more that a tool in the hands of power, or you address the progressive components of this society in an attempt to settle a revolutionary relation between art and life.
Quote examples
Franklin Foer
American Writer
What I worry about ultimately is that when we're stripped of our privacy, when we're stripped of free will, when we start to merge with machines in a more robust way, at some point, we'll cease to be identifiably human. And therefore, I think our humanity is, in some ways, the thing that's under existential threat.
Quote examples
Jessica Rothe
American Actress
When the movie 'Sliding Doors' came out, it almost sent me into existential crisis because I think about that all the time. Like, 'Wait. If I left my house five minutes later, maybe this would have happened and I'd be on this different track of my life. How would that affect me?
Quote examples
Sonia Sotomayor
American Judge
The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn't have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.
Quote examples
Imre Kertesz
Hungarian Author
Writing changed my life. It has an existential dimension, and that's the same for every writer. Every artist has a moment of awakening, of happening upon an idea that grabs hold of you, regardless of whether you are a painter or a writer.
Quote examples
Jeremy Stoppelman
American Businessman
About every year or two, there is a moment of truth where there's some new development in the marketplace, some new technology, some sort of existential crisis. You just have to be vigilant about looking out for those moments.
Quote examples
Fei-Fei Li
Chinese Scientist
The real existential challenge is to live up to your fullest potential, along with living up to your intense sense of responsibility and to be honest to yourself about what you want.
Quote examples
Ban Ki-moon
South Korean Leader
Around the world, climate change is an existential threat - but if we harness the opportunities inherent in addressing climate change, we can reap enormous economic benefits.
Quote examples
Joe Russo
American Director
We like existentially wacky characters who exist in existential crisis.
Example 1 of 10
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