Subsistence

Definition: Subsistence

Subsistence

Noun

1. Minimal (or marginal) resources for subsisting; "social security provided only a bare subsistence".

2. A means of surviving; "farming is a hard means of subsistence".

3. The state of existing in reality; having substance.

Date "subsistence" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Etymology: Subsistence \Sub*sist"ence\, noun. [Compare to the French expression subsistance, from Latin expression subsistentia.]. (Websters 1913)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Existence	Noun: existence, being, entity, ens, esse, subsistence.
Food	Food, pabulum; aliment, nourishment, nutriment; sustenance, sustentation, sustention; nurture, subsistence, provender, corn, feed, fodder, provision, ration, keep, commons, board; commissariat; (provision); prey, forage, pasture, pasturage; fare, cheer; diet, dietary; regimen; belly timber, staff of life; bread, bread and cheese.
Insufficiency	Noun: insufficiency; inadequacy, inadequateness; incompetence; (impotence); deficiency; (incompleteness); imperfection; shortcoming; paucity; stint; scantiness; (smallness); none to spare, bare subsistence.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Title
Books	Always Getting Ready, Upterrlainarluta: Yup'Ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska (reference) From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays (reference) Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (reference) Rough food : the seasons of subsistence in Northern Newfoundland (reference) Skeletal Biology in the Great Plains: Migration, Warfare, Health, and Subsistence (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Seal - Subsistence. Credit: Alaska Image Library.		U. S. Army Base Hospital Number 6, Bordeaux, France. : Interior view of subsistence stores. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Western Washington subsistence farm, whittled out of the stumps. "Eighty per-cent of the forty-five thousand farms in western Washington are inadequate." Farm Security Administration (FSA) state director. Washington, Grays Harbor County. Credit: Library of Congress.		Childern at the El Monte subsistence homesteads, California. Credit: Library of Congress.
	San Fernando federal subsistence homesteads. Forty homes all occupied, each with nearly an acre land. Average yearly income eight hundred dollars. California. Credit: Library of Congress.		Jack Neill, "migratory fruit tramp," on banks of Pulah Creek near Winters, California. He owns one acre subsistence farm near Porterville. Represented migratory laborers as speaker at Commonwealth Club, San Francisco (See published "Transactions" of the C. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Westmoreland, Pennsylvania. The United States Resettlement Administration's subsistence homestead project. Credit: Library of Congress.		Mail boxes near Auburn, California. Notice the Japanese name. The Japanese are moving into this section on a subsistence farming basis as the older settlers who have not adjusted themselves to changing market conditions move out. Placer County, California. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Old Yankee farmer. Has a very small farm with a subsistence garden and some turkeys. Near Fitchville, Connecticut. Credit: Library of Congress.		An old textile mill in Montville, Connecticut. In the background are small subsistence farms. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Author	Quotation
Alexander Hamilton	Power over a man's subsistence amounts to power over his will.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	But what reason can hence advance this care of the parents due to their off-spring into an absolute arbitrary dominion of the father, whose power reaches no farther, than by such a discipline, as he finds most effectual, to give such strength and health to their bodies, such vigour and rectitude to their minds, as may best fit his children to be most useful to themselves and others; and, if it be necessary to his condition, to make them work, when they are able, for their own subsistence. (Second Treatise of Government)
Communist Manifesto	1848	The average price of wage-labour is the minimum wage, i.e., that quantum of the means of subsistence, which is absolutely requisite in bare existence as a labourer. (reference)
Treaty of Versailles	1919	Each of the Members will pay the travelling and subsistence expenses of its Delegates and their advisers and of its Representatives attending the meetings of the Conference or Governing Body, as the case may be. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		The law also provides for children to receive 9 years of compulsory education and to receive their subsistence from parents or guardians. (references)
Children	Cambodia	Education is free but not compulsory through grade nine; many children leave school to help their families in subsistence agriculture, begin school at a late age, or do not attend school at all. (references)
	Burma	Teachers' salaries are far below subsistence wages and have forced many teachers to quit teaching out of economic necessity; on average, a teacher's pay is equal only to approximately 7 dollars (10,000 Kyats) monthly. (references)
	Tuvalu	Students compete for academic scholarships to attend university level education overseas; otherwise, they participate in vocational training focusing on subsistence farming and maritime training for men and computer or other business training for women. (references)
Civil Liberties	India	In April the UNHCR announced that it would stop assisting the Burmese refugees in the country (most from western Burma) with monthly subsistence allowances. (references)
	Solomon Islands	The Government provided very limited help to internally displaced persons, who generally relied on their extended families and subsistence farming for survival. (references)
	Hong Kong	Those granted refugee status, as well as those awaiting UNHCR assessment of their status, receive a subsistence allowance from the UNHCR, but are not allowed to seek employment or enroll their children in local schools. (references)
Economic History	Zambia	Most Zambians are subsistence farmers. (references)
	Azerbaijan	Many small producers operate at a subsistence level. (references)
	Malawi	Nearly 90% of the population engages in subsistence farming. (references)
Human Rights	Philippines	Administrators budget a daily subsistence allowance of about $0.60 (30 pesos). (references)
	Laos	Food rations are minimal, and most prisoners rely on their families for their subsistence. (references)
	Philippines	Prison inmates often depend on their families for food because of the insufficient subsistence allowance. (references)
Indigenous People	Nicaragua	Critics of government policy cited extremely high unemployment rates, but calculation of reliable employment statistics was complicated because most of the working indigenous population on the Atlantic coast is engaged in subsistence fishing, farming, and mining. (references)
Minorities	Burma	Economic development among minorities continues to lag, leaving many persons living below subsistence levels. (references)
Political Economy	Gambia	Much of the population is engaged in subsistence farming. (references)
Women	Burkina Faso	Women still do much of the subsistence farming work. (references)
	Rwanda	Women traditionally perform most of the subsistence farming. (references)
	Guinea-Bissau	Women are responsible for most work on subsistence farms and have limited access to education, especially in rural areas. (references)
Worker Rights	Cambodia	Most workers are subsistence rice farmers. (references)
	Angola	Family-based child labor in subsistence agriculture is common. (references)
	Papua New Guinea	This type of employment is rare, except in subsistence agriculture. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
John Adams	1797-1801	By means of the same captures great numbers of our sea men have been thrown ashore in foreign countries, destitute of all means of subsistence, and the sick in particular have been exposed to grievous sufferings.
James Madison	1809-1817	Such, however, is the variety of soils, of climates, and of products within our extensive limits that the aggregate resources for subsistence are more than sufficient for the aggregate wants.
John Quincy Adams	1825-1829	This new element of prosperity to that part of our agricultural industry which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence is of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism.
Andrew Jackson	1829-1837	The emigrants generally are represented to be prosperous and contented, the country suitable to their wants and habits, and the essential articles of subsistence easily procured.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Subsistence" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.11% of the time. "Subsistence" is used about 447 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	99.11%	443	13,068
Noun (proper)	0.89%	4	175,879
Total	100.00%	447	N/A

Expressions using "subsistence": bare subsistence ♦ Commissary general of subsistence ♦ commissary of subsistence ♦ subsistence allowance ♦ subsistence Department ♦ subsistence farming ♦ subsistence law of wages ♦ subsistence level ♦ subsistence money ♦ subsistence wage. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "subsistence": subsistence-driven, subsistence-food, subsistence-level, subsistence-pattern.
	Ending with "subsistence": economy-subsistence, infra-subsistence, non-subsistence, peasant-subsistence, sub-subsistence.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "subsistence"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		mjete jetese (livelihood, maintenance, sustenance), jetesë (alive, livelihood, living), ekzistencë (being, entity, existence, inwardness, life). (various references)

Arabic		‏مورد رزق (breadwinner), ‏مؤنة, ‏مؤن (commissariat, provision, provisions, ration, stock, store, supplies, supply, viands, victuals), ‏قوت (aliment, bread, food, nourishment, nutriment, sustenance, victual), ‏قوام (basis, foundation, substratum), ‏وجود (being, entity, existence, presence), ‏عيش, ‏ذخائر (supplies), ‏إعاشة, ‏بقاء (biding, date, duration, endurance, existence, immortality, permanence, survival). (various references)

Bulgarian		съществуване (being, entity, existence), средства за съществуване (sustentation), прехрана (keep, livelihood, living, nourishment, sustenance), препитание (nourishment, sustenance). (various references)

Chinese		�"�存 (survival, survive, Survived, surviving). (various references)

Czech		trvání (continuance, duration, length, persistence, standing), existence (being, existence, individual), živobytí (keep, livelihood, living, sustenance). (various references)

Danish		subsistensmidler (means of subsistence), subsistenslandbrug (subsistence agriculture, subsistence farming), rejse-og opholdsudgifter (travel and subsistence expenses), opholdsudgifter (living expenses, subsistence expenses), opholdsgodtgoerelse (subsistence allowance), mindsteeksistensbeløb (margin of subsistence, minimum subsistence figure, poverty line), fattigdomsgrænse (margin of subsistence, minimum subsistence figure, poverty line), eksistensminimum (margin of subsistence, minimum subsistence figure, poverty line), dagpenge (daily subsistence allowance, subsistence allowance), dårligst stillede samfundsgruppers eksistensgrundlag (subsistence protection for the most deprived groups). (various references)

Dutch		verblijfsvergoeding (subsistence allowance), verblijfkosten (living expenses, subsistence expenses), reis-en verblijfkosten (travelling and subsistence expenses), reis-en verblifkosten (travel and subsistence expenses), minimum voor levensonderhoud (margin of subsistence, minimum subsistence figure, poverty line), middel van bestaan (means of subsistence), DSA (Daily Subsistence Allowance, diffusion self aligned), dagvergoeding (daily subsistence allowance), bestaanszekerheid van de minstbedeelden (subsistence protection for the most deprived groups), bestaansminimum (subsistence minimum), bestaansmiddel (means of subsistence), bestaansbron (means of subsistence). (various references)

Esperanto		vivtena minimumo (subsistence minimum). (various references)

Finnish		toimeentulo (livelihood, living), elatus (livelihood, living, maintenance, sustenance). (various references)

French		subsistance (sustenance). (various references)

German		lebensunterhalt (cost of living, livelihood, living, means of subsistence), leben (be alive, dwell, exist, existence, inhabit, life, life [pl lives], lifetime, live, living, livings, natural, subsist, to exist, to live, vitality), existenz (existance, existence, livelihood). (various references)

Greek		ύπαρξη (being, entity, existence, occurrence), συντήρηση (conservation, keep, keeping, maintenance, preservation, support, sustenance, upkeep), υπόσταση (being, estate, substance). (various references)

Hebrew		מחי�" (food, keep, living, sustenance), קיום (being, existence, living), פר� ס�" (bread, fare, keep, livelihood, living, maintenance, provision, support, upkeep). (various references)

Hungarian		létezés (existence), élés. (various references)

Italian		sussistenza (existence, ordnance), sopravvivenza (persistence, survival), mantenimento (charity, keeping, maintenance, support). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		糊口 (bare livelihood), 暮らし (circumstances, livelihood, living), 渡世 (business, livelihood), 存立 (existence), 世渡り (getting on in the world, making a living). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		くらし (circumstances, livelihood, living), そ�"りつ (established or operated by a village, existence, loss factor), �"�"う (aloofness, arc light, bare existence, bare livelihood, dangerous place, houses and inhabitants, jaws of death, living on others, one's right-hand man, one's trusted henchman, population, superiority, tiger's den), よわたり (getting on in the world, making a living), とせい (business, livelihood, the metropolitan government). (various references)

Korean		급양 (Subsisting). (various references)

Manx		cooney beaghee. (various references)

Pig Latin		ubsistencesay

Portuguese		sustento (diet, feed, food, keep, keeping, livelihood, living, maintenance, nourishment, nurture, pabulum, support, sustenance), subsistência (living, maintenance, persistence), vida (alacrity, enthusiasm, existence, life, life-span, living, pulse, raciness, vitality, vivacity, world), meios de subsistência (means of subsistence), existência (existence, life, living), ato de viver, alimentação (board, chargin, eating, fare, food, maintenance, nourishment). (various references)

Romanian		subzistenţã (keep, support, sustenance), trai (existence, life, livelihood, living), existenţã (availability, being, existence, life, living, presence, reality). (various references)

Russian		существование (being, essence, existence). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		postojanje (being, existence, life), opstanak (existence, survival), život (being, life, lifetime, living). (various references)

Spanish		subsistencia (keep). (various references)

Swedish		existens (being, existence, individual, life, living). (various references)

Turkish		yaşamını sürdürme, varlık (asset, being, circumstance, circumstances, creature, criter, entity, estate, existence, havings, means, possession, possessions, presence, property, stock, wealth), var oluş, nafaka (alimony, compassionate allowance, maintenance, subsistence money, sustentation), harcırah (subsistence money, travel expense), geçinip gidecek kadar gelir (competence, competency), geçim parası (subsistence money), geçim (bread, bread and butter, getting along, keep, livelihood, living, sustentation, upkeep), askerlere verilen yiyecek ve kalacak yer. (various references)

Ukrainian		існування (being, essence, existence, life), прожиток (alimony, livelihood). (various references)

Vietnamese		sinh kế (livelihood), sự t�"n tại sự sống, sự sinh sống. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Late Latin	300-700	subsistentia. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "subsistence": subsistences. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Subsistence" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: subsisitence, subsistance. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "subsistence" (pronounced subsi"stuns)
7	-s i" s t u n s	assistance, consistence, insistence, persistence.
6	-i" s t u n s	coexistence, distance, existence, resistance.
5	-s t u n s	instance, substance.
4	-t u n s	acceptance, acquaintance, admittance, capacitance, competence, importance, impotence, inadvertence, incompetence, inductance, inheritance, omnipotence, pittance, reluctance, remittance, repentance, sentence.
3	-u n s	abeyance, abhorrence, absence, abstinence, abundance, accordance, acquiescence, adherence, admirations, adolescence, affluence, allegiance, alliance, allowance, ambiance, ambience, ambivalence, ambulance, annoyance, appearance, appliance, arrogance, ascendance, assurance, attendance, audience, avoidance, balance, belligerence, beneficence, benevolence, bioscience, brilliance, cadence, chrominance, circumference, clairvoyance, Clarence, clearance, cognizance, coherence, coincidence, coinsurance, comeuppance, compliance, concurrence, condolence, conference, confidence, confluence, conformance, congruence, connivance, conscience, consequence, continuance, contrivance, convalescence, convenience, convergence, conveyance, correspondence, countenance, counterbalance, counterintelligence, credence, dalliance, decadence, Defeasance, deference, defiance, deliverance, dependence, deterrence, deviance, difference, diligence, disallowance, disappearance, discontinuance, disobedience, dissidence, dissonance, disturbance, divergence, dominance, ebullience, elegance, eloquence, emergence, eminence, endurance, entrance, equivalence, essence, evanescence, evidence, excellence, expedience, experience, extravagance, exuberance, flamboyance, Florence, forbearance, fragrance, furtherance, governance, grievance, guidance, hindrance, ignorance, imbalance, immanence, imminence, impatience, impedance, imprudence, incidence, incoherence, incontinence, inconvenience, independence, indifference, indulgence, inexperience, inference, influence, innocence, insignificance, insolence, insurance, intelligence, interdependence, interference, intolerance, intransigence, invariance, irrelevance, irreverence, issuance, jurisprudence, licence, license, luminance, luminescence, maintenance, malfeasance, negligence, neuroscience, noncompliance, noninterference, nonviolence, nuisance, obedience, observance, obsolescence, occurrence, omnipresence, opulence, ordinance, Ordnance, overabundance, overconfidence, overdependence, overreliance, parlance, patience, penance, performance, permanence, persecutions, perseverance, pestilence, petulance, phosphorescence, precedence, predominance, preeminence, preference, preponderance, prescience, presence, prevalence, prominence, protuberance, provenance, Providence, province, prudence, pseudoscience, quintessence, radiance, reappearance, reassurance, recalcitrance, recognizance, reconnaissance, recurrence, reemergence, reference, reinspections, reinsurance, relevance, reliance, remembrance, reminiscence, resemblance, residence, resilience, resonance, resurgence, reticence, reverence, riddance, science, semblance, senescence, sequence, severance, significance, silence, submergence, subservience, subsidence, surveillance, sustenance, teleconference, temperance, tolerance, transcendence, transference, transience, turbulence, unbalance, utterance, Valence, variance, vehemence, vengeance, videoconference, vigilance, violence, virulence.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "b-c-e-e-i-n-s-s-s-t-u"
	-3 letters: business, censuses, centesis, cestuses, cistuses, cuteness, sestines, subsects, subsense, subsites, subteens.
	-4 letters: betises, bisects, busiest, bustics, butenes, cubists, cuisses, cutesie, cutises, entices, ictuses, incests, incuses, insects, sestine, sinuses, situses, subnets, subsect, subsets, subsist, subsite, subteen, sunsets, tissues.
	-5 letters: besets, betise, bisect, busies, busses, bustic, butene, censes, census, cesses, cestus, cistus, cubist, cubits, cuisse.
	Words containing the letters "b-c-e-e-i-n-s-s-s-t-u"
	+1 letter: subsistences.
	+3 letters: subjectiveness.
	+4 letters: inscrutableness, obstructiveness, susceptibleness.
	+5 letters: sesquicarbonates, subjectivenesses.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
subsistence farming	10
allowance basic subsistence	5
subsistence	5
agriculture subsistence	5
agriculture american subsistence	3
allowance family subsistence supplemental	2
halibut subsistence	2
farmer subsistence	2
living subsistence	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subsistence

Definition: Subsistence

Subsistence

Noun

Synonyms within Context: Subsistence

Existence

Food

Insufficiency

Crosswords: Subsistence

Commercial Usage: Subsistence

Books

Photo Album: Subsistence

Familiar Quotations: Subsistence

Alexander Hamilton

Historic Usage: Subsistence

John Locke

Communist Manifesto

Treaty of Versailles

Non-Fiction Usage: Subsistence

Speeches: Subsistence

John Adams

James Madison

John Quincy Adams

Andrew Jackson

Usage Frequency: Subsistence

Expressions: Subsistence

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Subsistence

Modern Translation: Subsistence

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Ancestral Language Translations: Subsistence

Derivations & Misspellings: Subsistence

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Subsistence"

Anagrams: Subsistence

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

INDEX