1. minimal (or marginal) resources for subsisting (Freq. 3) - social security provided only a bare subsistence • Hypernyms: support, keep, livelihood, living, bread and butter, sustenance 2. a means of surviving (Freq. 1) - farming is a hard means of subsistence • Derivationally related forms: subsist • Hypernyms: survival, endurance 3. the state of existing in reality; having substance • Hypernyms: being, beingness, existence
