nonexistent

adjective

non·​ex·​is·​tent ˌnän-ig-ˈzi-stənt 

: not in actual or present occurrence : not existing

… historical accounts of the first Thanksgiving are almost nonexistent …

—Jasper White

Water was often a luxury, bathrooms were nonexistent, the food was often suspect.

—Noel Vietmeyer

Although brain size and organization became basically modern at least 100,000 years ago, with the robust Neanderthals, their advances in tool-making were slight, their self-expression through art virtually nonexistent.

—John Noble Wilford

Synonyms of nonexistent

• absent
• lacking

Examples of nonexistent in a Sentence

our perennially nonexistent computer tech is, once again, not here today

Recent Examples on the Web

Starlink began its commercial service in 2021, initially focusing on areas of the United States where traditional broadband infrastructure was limited or nonexistent. —Ben Tarnoff, Big Think, 23 Apr. 2026

Laura Lee Yourex pleaded guilty April 10 to misdemeanor knowing registration of a nonexistent person to vote. —City News Service, Oc Register, 22 Apr. 2026

There’s no official language, but English is the de facto primary language used for government, education and media, so the language barrier is essentially nonexistent. —Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 20 Apr. 2026

Plane outlets are often slow, loose, or even nonexistent, and when delays stack up, a dead phone becomes a real problem—not just an inconvenience. —Samantha Leal, Travel + Leisure, 18 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nonexistent

• coexistent
• equidistant
• inconsistent
• preexistent
• assistant
• consistent
• existent
• insistent
• persistent
• resistant
• subsistent
• distant