subsist Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb support oneself
    survive; live; exist.
    • he could barely exist on such a low wage
    • Can you live on $2000 a month in New York City?
    • Many people in the world have to subsist on $1 a day

WordNet

Sub*sist" intransitive verb
Etymology
L. subsistere to stand still, stay, remain alive; sub under + sistere to stand, to cause to stand, from stare to stand: cf. F. subsister. See Stand.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Subsisted; present participle & verbal noun Subsisting
Definitions
  1. To be; to have existence; to inhere.
    And makes what happiness we justly call, Subsist not in the good of one, but all. Pope.
  2. To continue; to retain a certain state.
    Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve. Milton.
  3. To be maintained with food and clothing; to be supported; to live. Milton.
    To subsist on other men's charity. Atterbury.
Sub*sist" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To support with provisions; to feed; to maintain; as, to subsist one's family.
    He laid waste the adjacent country in order to render it more difficult for the enemy to subsist their army. Robertson.

Webster 1913