If something is extant, it is still in existence, in spite of being very old.
[formal]
Two fourteenth-century manuscripts of this text are still extant.
The oldest extant document is dated 1492.
Synonyms: in existence, existing, remaining, surviving More Synonyms of extant
extant in British English
(ɛkˈstænt, ˈɛkstənt)
adjective
1.
still in existence; surviving
2. archaic
standing out; protruding
▶ USAGE Extant is sometimes wrongly used simply to say that something exists, without any connotationof survival: plutonium is perhaps the deadliest element in existence (not the deadliest element extant)
Word origin
C16: from Latin exstāns standing out, from exstāre, from stāre to stand
extant in American English
(ˈɛkstənt; ɛkˈstænt; ɪkˈstænt)
adjective
1.
still existing; not extinct; not lost or destroyed
2. Archaic
standing out; conspicuous
Word origin
L extans, exstans, prp. of exstare, to stand out or forth < ex-, out + stare, stand
Examples of 'extant' in a sentence
extant
Today, this circle of gloomy old trees is still extant.
Eddison, Sydney A Patchwork Garden: Unexpected Pleasures from a Country Garden (1990)
There are treasures of carpentry still extant, that he made for them.
Charlotte M. Yonge The Daisy Chain (1837)
(adjective)
Definition
still in existence
The oldest extant copy is dated 1492.
Synonyms
in existence
It is the only one of its kind that is in existence.
existing
the need to improve existing products
remaining
They wanted to purge remaining memories of his reign.
surviving
living
a living language
existent
human rights in former and still existent communist states
subsisting
undestroyed
Usage note
Used carefully, the word extant describes something that has survived, often against all odds. It therefore carries a slightly more specific meaning than in existence, and should not be considered as being automatically interchangeable with this phrase. For example, you might say the oldest extant document dates from 1492; but in existence (not extant) for 15 years, they are still one of the most successful bands in the world. In many contexts, however, these ideas overlap, leaving the writer to decide whether extant or in existence best expresses the intended meaning.
Additional synonyms
in the sense of existent
human rights in former and still existent communist states