English Online Dictionary. What means presence? What does presence mean?
English
Alternative forms
- præsence (archaic)
Etymology
Through Old French presence, from Latin praesentia (“a being present”), from praesentem. Displaced native Old English andweardnes.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɛzn̩s/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɛz(ə)ns/
- Rhymes: -ɛzəns
- Hyphenation: pres‧ence
Noun
presence (countable and uncountable, plural presences)
- The fact or condition of being present, or of being within sight or call, or at hand.
- The part of space within one's immediate vicinity.
- A quality of poise and effectiveness that enables a performer to achieve a close relationship with their audience.
- A quality that sets an individual out from others; a quality that makes them noticed and/or admired even if they are not speaking or performing.
- Something (as a spirit) felt or believed to be present.
- A company's business activity in a particular market. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (archaic) An assembly of great persons.
- The state of being closely focused on the here and now, not distracted by irrelevant thoughts. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (audio) Synonym of room tone.
Antonyms
- absence
- missingness
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
presence (third-person singular simple present presences, present participle presencing, simple past and past participle presenced)
- (philosophy, ambitransitive) To make or become present.
- 2005, James Phillips, Heidegger's Volk: Between National Socialism and Poetry, Stanford University Press, →ISBN (paperback), page 118,
- From the overtaxing of the regime's paranoiac classifications and monitoring of the social field, Heidegger was to await in vain the presencing of that which is present, the revelation of the Being of beings in its precedence to governmental control.
Related terms
- present
- presentation
- omnipresence
Further reading
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “presence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “presence”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “presence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.