bread and butter, keep, livelihood, sustenance, living, support - the financial means whereby one lives; "each child was expected to pay for their keep"; "he applied to the state for support"; "he could no longer earn his own livelihood"

survival, endurance - a state of surviving; remaining alive

being, beingness, existence - the state or fact of existing; "a point of view gradually coming into being"; "laws in existence for centuries"