See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/existent
and http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/extant .
They seem almost the same, yet I don't often see them used interchangably.
2007-04-21 09:50:43 · 3 answers · asked by Goldom 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
"Existent" simply refers to the fact -- it exists. It says nothing about its PAST.
"Extant' is very much concerned with the relationship of an item to the past. Note the OED definition: "continuing to exist, that has escaped the ravages of time, still existing".
In other words, it refers things that have "survived" from long ago, when other items of their time have not. You may read, for instance, about "extant manuscripts" to refer to centuries-old copies of an ancient document that are still around.
2007-04-23 11:51:45 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The key difference is in the word "still" in the definition for extant. There is a sense of something still being in existence as different from a sense of something being in existence.
2007-04-21 09:59:14 · answer #2 · answered by CanProf 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, existent is not as widely recognized, for one, and as you know the English language developed over many centuries and several locales, so there's inconsistencies and many, many synonyms.
For example, extant is in 23 online dictionaries while existent is in only 18.
2007-04-21 09:54:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋