Extancy
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The state of rising above others; a projection. obsolete
"[W]hereas in ſmall fragments or plates, the Ice, though it ſink not to the bottom of the water, will oftentimes ſink so low in it, as ſcarce to leave any part evidently extant above the ſurface of the water, in vaſt quantities of Ice, that extancy is ſometimes ſo conſpicuous, that Navigators in their Voyages to Iſland, Greenland, and other frozen Regions, complain of meeting with lumps, or rather floating rocks of Ice, as high as their main Maſts."
- 2 The state of being extant; existence. obsolete, uncountable
Example
More examples"[W]hereas in ſmall fragments or plates, the Ice, though it ſink not to the bottom of the water, will oftentimes ſink so low in it, as ſcarce to leave any part evidently extant above the ſurface of the water, in vaſt quantities of Ice, that extancy is ſometimes ſo conſpicuous, that Navigators in their Voyages to Iſland, Greenland, and other frozen Regions, complain of meeting with lumps, or rather floating rocks of Ice, as high as their main Maſts."
Etymology
From Latin extantia, exstantia.
From extant + -cy; ultimately the same formation as Etymology 1.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.