1
a
: currently or actually existing
… the most charming writer extant …—
G. W. Johnson
G. W. Johnson
b
: still existing : not destroyed or lost
extant manuscripts
2
archaic
: standing out or above
Examples of extant in a Sentence
There is, he reports, no extant copy of the Super Bowl I television broadcast; nobody bothered to keep the tapes.
—Joe Queenan, New York Times Book Review, 1 Feb. 2009
First produced in the spring of 472 BC, Persians is noteworthy in the corpus of the thirty-two extant Greek tragedies in that it is the only classical Greek drama that dramatizes an actual historical event.
—Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review, 21 Sept. 2006
[George] Lucas' brain teemed with plots and characters, exotic creatures, worlds to be spun out of the words and sketches in his notebooks. Also, by numbering the extant episodes IV, V and VI, he was implicitly promising a prequel trilogy …
—Richard Corliss, Time, 9 May 2005
There are few extant records from that period.
one of the oldest buildings still extant
Joe Queenan, New York Times Book Review, 1 Feb. 2009
First produced in the spring of 472 BC, Persians is noteworthy in the corpus of the thirty-two extant Greek tragedies in that it is the only classical Greek drama that dramatizes an actual historical event.
—Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review, 21 Sept. 2006
[George] Lucas' brain teemed with plots and characters, exotic creatures, worlds to be spun out of the words and sketches in his notebooks. Also, by numbering the extant episodes IV, V and VI, he was implicitly promising a prequel trilogy …
—Richard Corliss, Time, 9 May 2005
There are few extant records from that period.
one of the oldest buildings still extant
Recent Examples on the Web
Filmmaker Sam Green, fascinated by fascination over the oldest person extant, decided to make a film on the subject.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 6 Mar. 2026
The strategy has paid off for the airlines, hotel brands, and food and beverage companies that have reported strong demand for their extant and newer premium offerings since fall 2025 — even as sales for their standard and discount products slow down.
—Kamaron McNair, CNBC, 6 Mar. 2026
More than 1,300 chiton species are known to science, and more extant species exist than extinct ones.
—Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 3 Mar. 2026
George is currently extant in a horrific form; the trademark having been bought by a conspiracy-theorist lawyer some years ago.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for extant
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Matthew Carey, Deadline, 6 Mar. 2026
The strategy has paid off for the airlines, hotel brands, and food and beverage companies that have reported strong demand for their extant and newer premium offerings since fall 2025 — even as sales for their standard and discount products slow down.
—Kamaron McNair, CNBC, 6 Mar. 2026
More than 1,300 chiton species are known to science, and more extant species exist than extinct ones.
—Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 3 Mar. 2026
George is currently extant in a horrific form; the trademark having been bought by a conspiracy-theorist lawyer some years ago.
—Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 14 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for extant
Cite this Entry
“Extant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extant. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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