: the quality, state, or condition of having existence
It has a crystalline, heartbreaking purity, that ontological beauty … of each object resonating in its beingness …—Phillip Lopate, Slate Magazine, 19 Mar. 2001 Blue collar or white, teacher or cabbie, her friends judge her and themselves by their beingness. Nora Watson, a young journalist, recounts a party game: Who Are You? Older people respond with their job titles: I'm a copy writer. I'm an accountant. The young say: I'm me, my name is so-and-so.—Studs Terkel, New York Times, 19 Mar. 1973
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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