subsist on
phrasal verb
subsisted on; subsisting on; subsists on
: to use (something) as a way to stay alive : to live on (something)
poor people subsisting on just one or two dollars a day
The villagers subsist almost entirely on rice and fish.
(humorous) My brother subsists on pizza.
Examples of subsist on in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Freshly unemployed and subsisting on selling plants to trust fund kids, Dell impulsively starts a 24-hour livestream under the username mademoiselle_dell to fundraise for private life support for Daisy.
—
Danielle Parker, CBS News, 27 Jan. 2026
Many Pacific Northwest tribes have subsisted on the fish for millennia and have woven them into their religions and languages.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2026
In many ways YouTube is creating the cultural diet that the globe is beginning to subsist on.
—Belinda Luscombe, Time, 4 Dec. 2025
These institutions already subsist on a sliver of American philanthropy: just 1.3 percent of all charitable giving in 2022, down from 1.9 percent two years earlier.
—Essence, 20 Nov. 2025
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Danielle Parker, CBS News, 27 Jan. 2026
Many Pacific Northwest tribes have subsisted on the fish for millennia and have woven them into their religions and languages.
—Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2026
In many ways YouTube is creating the cultural diet that the globe is beginning to subsist on.
—Belinda Luscombe, Time, 4 Dec. 2025
These institutions already subsist on a sliver of American philanthropy: just 1.3 percent of all charitable giving in 2022, down from 1.9 percent two years earlier.
—Essence, 20 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for subsist on
Cite this Entry
“Subsist on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subsist%20on. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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