noun

1. existence; being; continuance
2. the act of providing sustenance
3. means of support or livelihood; often, specif., the barest means in terms of food, clothing, and shelter needed to sustain life
4. the quality of being inherent
5. Philos.
   1. the status of something that exists in itself as an individual whole
   2. the status of something whose very act of existing is its essence, as God
   3. the quality of being logically conceivable

Etymology: ME < LL(Ec) subsistentia < L subsister: see subsist