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

• absent
• lacking
• missing
• wanting

Examples of nonexistent in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s an almost poetic parallel between how the creators of the adaptation and García Márquez discovered this nonexistent town—the former through journeys across Colombia, the latter through a collection of stories, tales, and notes. —Fernanda Pérez Sánchez, Vogue, 14 Dec. 2024

Its nonexistent gender pay gap, high score from the Human Rights Campaign and relatively low employee turnover were notable. —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2024

An Arizona grand jury indicted two people for allegedly defrauding the state's voucher-style Empowerment Scholarship Account program of up to $110,000 by submitting applications for 43 nonexistent children. —Axios Phoenix, Axios, 3 Dec. 2024

For example, in a recent case involving Avianca Airlines, a New York lawyer submitted a legal brief citing nonexistent court cases generated by an AI tool, leading to significant repercussions. —Phillip Greer, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above