nonexistent

adjective

non·​ex·​is·​tent ˌnän-ig-ˈzi-stənt How to pronounce nonexistent (audio)
: not in actual or present occurrence : not existing
… historical accounts of the first Thanksgiving are almost nonexistentJasper White
Water was often a luxury, bathrooms were nonexistent, the food was often suspect.Noel Vietmeyer
Although brain size and organization became basically modern at least 100,000 years ago, with the robust Neanderthals, their advances in tool-making were slight, their self-expression through art virtually nonexistent.John Noble Wilford

Examples of nonexistent in a Sentence

our perennially nonexistent computer tech is, once again, not here today
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Although Toronto’s other three lines didn’t dominate, Philadelphia’s offence was simply nonexistent. Kevin Papetti, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025 But why would so many people take any time at all to apply for a position when the odds of actually earning the job were nonexistent? Jesse Temple, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025 What To Know One of many hypothetical questions resulting from a nonexistent DOE is what students and institutions would do without the OCR accepting and investigating complaints. Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 24 Mar. 2025 However, taxpayers need to file a tax return and claim the recovery rebate credit by the April 15 deadline, even if any income from a job, business or other source was minimal or nonexistent, according to the IRS. Susan Haigh and Adriana Morga, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for nonexistent

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nonexistent was in 1646

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Cite this Entry

“Nonexistent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonexistent. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.

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