unbeing

English

Etymology

From Middle English unbeing, equivalent to un- +‎ being.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈbiːɪŋ/

Noun

unbeing (countable and uncountable, plural unbeings)

1. (uncountable) Nonexistence.
   • 1997, Migene González-Wippler, What happens after death, page 3:

     What we fear most is not death itself but the prospect of not being, or rather of unbeing, a state where we altogether cease to exist. The idea of unbeing is so alien to us that we find it almost impossible to conceive.

2. (countable) A nonbeing; an entity of no existence or significance.
   • 1987, Hari Mohan Prasad, The Dramatic Art of Eugene O'Neill, page 23:

     The house is pale as though its life-blood were sucked and the Cabots reduced to unbeings.

Synonyms

• (nonexistence): See also Thesaurus:inexistence

Adjective

unbeing (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Not in existence, nonexistent.
   • c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “(please specify the section)”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield printer to the University; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton […]; and Mr. [John] Morphew […], published 1716, →OCLC:

     Beings yet unbeing