PRESENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does presence mean? 

• PRESENCE (noun)
  The noun PRESENCE has 6 senses:

1. the state of being present; current existence

2. the immediate proximity of someone or something

3. an invisible spiritual being felt to be nearby

4. the impression that something is present

5. dignified manner or conduct

6. the act of being present

  Familiarity information: PRESENCE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRESENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being present; current existence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he tested for the presence of radon

Hypernyms ("presence" is a kind of...):

being; beingness; existence; face of the earth (the state or fact of existing)

Attribute:

present (being or existing in a specified place)

absent (not being in a specified place)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "presence"):

immanence; immanency (the state of being within or not going beyond a given domain)

inherence; inherency (the state of inhering; the state of being a fixed characteristic)

ubiety (the state of existing and being localized in space)

omnipresence; ubiquitousness; ubiquity (the state of being everywhere at once (or seeming to be everywhere at once))

hereness (the state of being here in this place)

thereness (the state of being there--not here--in position)

thereness (real existence)

occurrence (an instance of something occurring)

shadow (a dominating and pervasive presence)

Antonym:

absence (the state of being absent)

Derivation:

present (being or existing in a specified place)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The immediate proximity of someone or something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

front; presence

Context example:

he was well behaved in front of company

Hypernyms ("presence" is a kind of...):

proximity (the region close around a person or thing)

Derivation:

present (being or existing in a specified place)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An invisible spiritual being felt to be nearby

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("presence" is a kind of...):

disembodied spirit; spirit (any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The impression that something is present

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

he felt the presence of an evil force

Hypernyms ("presence" is a kind of...):

belief; feeling; impression; notion; opinion (a vague idea in which some confidence is placed)

Derivation:

present (being or existing in a specified place)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Dignified manner or conduct

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bearing; comportment; mien; presence

Hypernyms ("presence" is a kind of...):

manner; personal manner (a way of acting or behaving)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "presence"):

dignity; gravitas; lordliness (formality in bearing and appearance)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The act of being present

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("presence" is a kind of...):

attendance; attending (the act of being present (at a meeting or event etc.))

Antonym:

absence (failure to be present)

Derivation:

present (being or existing in a specified place)

 Context examples 

“Holloa!” said my aunt to Peggotty, who quailed before her awful presence.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She felt the urge again of the desire to lean toward him for warmth, and marvelled again at the effect his presence produced upon her.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Well, whatever I am, remember you are my wife; we were married an hour since, in the presence of all these witnesses."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is characterized by the presence of myelodysplastic features in at least 50% of the cells of at least two hematopoietic cell lines.

(Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Multilineage Dysplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

The air of London is the sweeter for my presence.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A molecular subtype of glioblastoma characterized by the presence of NF1 mutations.

(Mesenchymal Glioblastoma, NCI Thesaurus)

A WHO grade I meningioma characterized by the presence of a prominent mesenchymal component.

(Metaplastic Meningioma, NCI Thesaurus)

Tease calmness of manner and presence of mind!

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It is characterized by the morphologic features of a medulloblastoma and the presence of a striated muscle component.

(Medullomyoblastoma with Myogenic Differentiation, NCI Thesaurus)

The urinalysis reveals the presence of white cells.

(Acute bacterial prostatitis, NCI Thesaurus)