nonexistent

Saying something is nonexistent is the same as saying that it doesn’t exist. It can mean that the thing never existed, or that it did exist but doesn’t anymore.

Nonexistent doesn’t have a lot of close, single-word synonyms. But there are other ways to say the same thing. In some cases, you might describe the nonexistent thing as made-up, fabricated, fictional, a figment of someone’s imagination, or in some other way that implies that it’s a product of imagination or deception and is not real at all.

In other cases, you might use nonexistent to imply that something simply isn’t present or available—that there is none of it. For example, instead of saying “The budget for this project is nonexistent,” you might say “There is no budget for this project.”

Saying that something is almost nonexistent means that it is almost gone or barely there—like the last remaining light at the end of a sunset. If you’re referring to the chances of something happening, you could say that it’s extremely unlikely. If you’re describing your abilities or skills in some area as being almost nonexistent, you could instead say that your skills are poor or basic at best.

Nonexistent contains the prefix non-, which makes it mean “not existent.” Existent is, therefore, the direct opposite of nonexistent. The word existing can be used as an adjective to mean the same thing as existent. The word extant means in existence or, more commonly, still in existence.

To reject the idea that something is nonexistent, you could call it real.

To say that there is very much of something—as opposed to none of it—you could describe it as abundant.

To disagree that the chances of something happening are nonexistent, you could say that it’s possible or even probable.

Nonexistent is a reasonably common word. We use it in quite a few different contexts. It’s sometimes used in the phrase almost nonexistent, which implies that something definitely exists but is almost gone or that there is very little of it.

Here are some examples of nonexistent in a sentence:

• Their chances of making the playoffs were slim, but after losing this game, their chances are nonexistent.
• My drawing skills are nonexistent—I can’t even do stick figures.
• Gilbert’s desire for a surprise birthday party was utterly nonexistent—and he made that obvious.

Both nonexistent and non-existent are used, but nonexistent is a bit more common. As with many hyphenated terms, the hyphen is often dropped when the word becomes more commonly used.