1
a
: currently or actually existing
the most charming writer extant—
G. W. Johnson
G. W. Johnson
b
: still existing : not destroyed or lost
extant manuscripts
2
archaic
: standing out or above
Examples of extant in a Sentence
There is, he reports, no extant copy of the Super Bowl I television broadcast; nobody bothered to keep the tapes.
—Joe Queenan, New York Times Book Review, 1 Feb. 2009
First produced in the spring of 472 BC, Persians is noteworthy in the corpus of the thirty-two extant Greek tragedies in that it is the only classical Greek drama that dramatizes an actual historical event.
—Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review, 21 Sept. 2006
[George] Lucas' brain teemed with plots and characters, exotic creatures, worlds to be spun out of the words and sketches in his notebooks. Also, by numbering the extant episodes IV, V and VI, he was implicitly promising a prequel trilogy …
—Richard Corliss, Time, 9 May 2005
There are few extant records from that period.
one of the oldest buildings still extant
Joe Queenan, New York Times Book Review, 1 Feb. 2009
First produced in the spring of 472 BC, Persians is noteworthy in the corpus of the thirty-two extant Greek tragedies in that it is the only classical Greek drama that dramatizes an actual historical event.
—Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review, 21 Sept. 2006
[George] Lucas' brain teemed with plots and characters, exotic creatures, worlds to be spun out of the words and sketches in his notebooks. Also, by numbering the extant episodes IV, V and VI, he was implicitly promising a prequel trilogy …
—Richard Corliss, Time, 9 May 2005
There are few extant records from that period.
one of the oldest buildings still extant
Recent Examples on the Web
Despite the app not extant for accessibility’s sake, McCarthy emphasized accessibility does matter to them.
—Steven Aquino, Forbes, 24 Oct. 2024
Far from the for-profit walking away with all the nonprofit’s assets, the for-profit emerges as an independent company and the nonprofit emerges not only still extant but very rich.
—Kelsey Piper, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
The list that Italy uses of ‘safe’ countries includes many countries where conflict, persecution and other forms of danger are extant in some regions.
—Frey Lindsay, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024
After the original residence was demolished in 1715, architect Robert Adam erected the extant castle in 1789, using stone salvaged from Seton Palace.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 9 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for extant 
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Steven Aquino, Forbes, 24 Oct. 2024
Far from the for-profit walking away with all the nonprofit’s assets, the for-profit emerges as an independent company and the nonprofit emerges not only still extant but very rich.
—Kelsey Piper, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018
The list that Italy uses of ‘safe’ countries includes many countries where conflict, persecution and other forms of danger are extant in some regions.
—Frey Lindsay, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024
After the original residence was demolished in 1715, architect Robert Adam erected the extant castle in 1789, using stone salvaged from Seton Palace.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 9 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for extant
Dictionary Entries Near extant
Cite this Entry
“Extant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extant. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.
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