From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsubsistsub‧sist /səbˈsɪst/ verb [intransitive] 1 SURVIVEto stay alive when you only have small amounts of food or money SYN survivesubsist on We had to subsist on bread and water. Old people often have to subsist on very low incomes.2 especially law to continue to exist SYN survive→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
subsist• The islanders inhabit the coastal strip only, and subsist almost entirely on royalties from the mining.• They subsisted, from all appearances, on roots and insects; a live gecko made a fine repast.• They must subsist, he said, on one small portion of government-rationed meat per week.• Indeed, many top athletes and even body-builders subsist on a vegetarian diet.• If I can subsist on mussels in place of meat, why not these greens in place of lettuce?• He subsisted on welfare, on charity and on casual labour.• Thus many primitive animals retain an ancient form and subsist to the present day.subsist on• The workers are expected to subsist on a dollar a day.• They subsist on eggs and beans most of the time.• Many of the soldiers had to subsist on insects and roots.Origin subsist (1500-1600) Latin subsistere “to come to a stop, remain, exist”, from sistere “to come to a stand” 