existence


Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to existence: Existence of aliens

bane of (one's) existence

The source or cause of one's misfortune, unhappiness, frustration, or anxiety, usually used hyperbolically. I swear, this project is the bane of my existence. I've been working on it for months and still haven't made any real progress! Jane has been constantly annoying me all week. She's been the bane of my very existence!
See also: bane, existence, of

charmed existence

A life characterized or seemingly protected by marked good fortune or luck, without (or rarely) encountering trouble, danger, or misfortune. Often preceded by the verbs "lead," "live," or "have." Celebrities seem to have a rather charmed existence, with everything handed to them on a silver platter. Other than minor colds, I've never been ill in my life. I guess I've just led a charmed existence.
See also: charmed, existence

have a charmed existence

To lead a life characterized or seemingly protected by marked good fortune or luck, without (or rarely) encountering trouble, danger, or misfortune. Celebrities seem to have a rather charmed existence, with everything handed to them on a silver platter. Other than minor colds, I've never been ill in my life. I guess I've just had a charmed existence.
See also: charmed, existence, have

lead a charmed existence

To lead a life characterized or seemingly protected by marked good fortune or luck, without (or rarely) encountering trouble, danger, or misfortune. Celebrities seem to lead a rather charmed existence, with everything handed to them on a silver platter. Other than minor colds, I've never been ill in my life. I guess I've just led a charmed existence.
See also: charmed, existence, lead

live a charmed existence

To lead a life characterized or seemingly protected by marked good fortune or luck, without (or rarely) encountering trouble, danger, or misfortune. Celebrities seem to live a rather charmed existence, with everything handed to them on a silver platter. Other than minor colds, I've never been ill in my life. I guess I've just lived a charmed existence.
See also: charmed, existence, live

come into existence

To appear or arise; to begin to exist. This company only came into existence through the hard work of my talented staff. The newly captured images are helping scientists to understand how some stars come into existence.
See also: come, existence

wink out

1. Of a flame or light, to become suddenly extinguished. The flashlight sputtered and winked out, leaving us stuck in the cave with no source of light. I sat dreamily watching each candle wink out in the early hours of the morning.
2. To be abruptly killed, destroyed, or ruined. Typically used in passive constructions and often followed by "of existence." I was there on the ground, watching as innocent men, women, and children were winked out of existence by the enemy gunfire. Entire towns were simply winked out as drought and famine swept through the region.
See also: out, wink

come into existence

to begin existence; to begin to be. This country came into existence in the early part of the fifteenth century. When did this little town come into existence?
See also: come, existence

in existence

now existing; currently and actually being. The tiger may not be in existence in a few decades. All the oil in existence will not last the world for another century.
See also: existence

the bane of somebody’s ˈlife/eˈxistence

a person or thing that makes somebody’s life unpleasant or unhappy: That car is always breaking down! It’s the bane of my life. OPPOSITE: a ray of sunshine
See also: bane, existence, life, of

wink out

v.
To become quickly extinguished, especially following a weak burst of activity: The candle flickered and winked out. The street lamps winked out one by one.
See also: out, wink

bane of one's existence, the

The agent of one’s ruin or misery; a thorn in the flesh. The earliest meaning of the noun bane was “murderer” and was so used in Beowulf (ca. a.d. 800). A somewhat later meaning was “poison,” which survives as part of the names of various poisonous plants, such as henbane or wolf’s bane. The current sense, an agent of ruin, dates from the late 1500s. Today it is almost always used hyperbolically, as in “The new secretary loses all my messages; she’s become the bane of my existence.”
See also: bane, of
References in periodicals archive ?
Motive is the specific place where action can take place, or maybe we could say: where changes or transformations take place in order to open one up to possibilities, keeping in line with a specific individual's existence. It is to investigate one's motive, one's motivation, and what makes one act, when one acts, as well as how one acts.
Motivation and existence: motivation in Kierkegaard and Heidegger
The shift away from the physical universe leads to evidence for God's existence that is more peculiarly personal in nature.
A Case for the Existence of God
ISLAMABAD, February 08, 2010 (Balochistan Times): The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior while rejecting the statement of Federal Interior Ministry over existence of blackwater in Pakistan has asked authorities concerned to inform it about those foreigners who are wandering in the country by brandishing heavy and automatic arms.
Existence of Blackwater in Pakistan NA body on Interior rejects statement of Interior Ministry
ISLAMABAD, February 08, 2010 (Frontier Star): The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior while rejecting the statement of Federal Interior Ministry over existence of blackwater in Pakistan has asked authorities concerned to inform it about those foreigners who are wandering in the country by brandishing heavy and automatic arms.
Existence of blackwater in Pakistan: NA body on interior rejects statement of interior ministry
"Shadows of Existence: An Anthology of Poetry" is a collection of work from Jekwu Ozoemene, reflecting on his unique upbringing in the nation of Nigeria.
Shadows of Existence
For decades, the Japanese government has denied the existence of a secret agreement with the United States that allowed U.S.
Japanese editorial excerpts -3-
I submit however, that nearly all Palestinians have de facto accepted Israel's 'existence'.
Deconstructing Israel's 'Right to Exist'
3 : all the experiences that make up the existence of a person : the course of existence <I never heard of such a thing in my life!>
life
Summary: Indications of the existence of gold, oil and gas fields in Tindouf province (2000-km southwest of Algiers) have been revealed by exploration operations.
Gold, oil and gas fields in Tindouf
Could the existence of psychic power have ground in scientific fact?
Parapsychology and the Skeptics
FORMER Labour MP Tam Dalyell yesterday called the very existence of a Scottish parliament into question.
Tam parly warning
Hamid Parsania: Existence and the Fall: Spiritual Anthropology of Islam, translated and annotated by Shuja Ali Mirza London: ICAS Press, 2006, x+198 pp., PB, ISBN 1-904063-23-3
Hamid Parsania: Existence and the Fall: Spiritual Anthropology of Islam
We even wrote songs about God and the nature of existence (albeit from the perspective of under-educated, surly, snotty teenage punks).
The punk and the professor and what they say about God
One limitation of existing research on noctcaelador is the lack of evidence to substantiate the existence of the construct.
Evidence of the existence of noctcaelador across three measures: a factor analytic study
Although not yet official, newly released documents verify the existence of working groups that are carrying out this agenda.
North American Union working groups quietly on the rise
Idioms browser ?
Full browser ?