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# subsist

«subsist» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **to stay alive, often with very little food or money: they…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (subsist, subsists, subsisted, subsisting); noun subsistence

### meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To subsist is to stay alive, often with very little food or money: they subsisted on bread and water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#m1)

2) (formal) To subsist is also to continue to exist: the old custom still subsists. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

Formal and exam language; in history and geography lessons people subsisted by farming, hunting or fishing (subsistence farming means growing just enough to feed your family). In stories, castaways subsist on coconuts. Plain words: live on, survive, get by.

### examples

- The castaways subsisted on fish and coconuts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#x1)
- During the long winter the family subsisted on potatoes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#x2)
- Many families once subsisted by farming small fields. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#x3)
- He subsisted on very little money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#x4)
- Birds can subsist on seeds in winter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#x5)
- Subsistence farmers grow just enough food to eat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/#x6)

### note

Formal word; in speech say «live on» or «get by». Usually followed by «on» or «by»: subsist on rice, subsist by fishing. Do not mix up with «insist» or «persist».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «subsist» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/S/subsist/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.