Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - existence

 noun  Date: 14th century  1.  a. obsolete reality as opposed to appearance  b. reality as presented in experience  c.  (1) the totality of existent things  (2) a particular being all the fair ~s of heaven — John Keats  d. sentient or living being ; life  2.  a. the state or fact of having being especially independently of human consciousness and as contrasted with non~ the ~ of other worlds  b. the manner of being that is common to every mode of being  c. being with respect to a limiting condition or under a particular aspect  3. actual or present occurrence ~ of a state of war