Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe ‘being of beings’; God.
Pythagoras shadowed the truth somewhat neerer, judgeing that the knowledge of this first cause and Ens entium must be undefined, without any prescription or declaration.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC2 more examples
That there exists a superior Ens Entium that form'd [this] wonderful created World is a mathematical Demonstration. That He influences things by a particular Providence is not so evident.
1754, Erasmus Darwin, letter, NovemberIn the absence of revelation, however, the God of metaphysics and natural theology is itself an abstraction, a mere ens entium, in any case, as Heidegger rightly observes, not the kind of God before whom one can ‘make music or dance.’
2009, John R Betz, After Enlightenment, Wiley-Blackwell, published 2012, page 328
Origin
- Latinens“being”
- Englishens entium
From Latin ens (“being”) + entium (“of beings”). Compare ens.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ens entium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ens%20entium
“ens entium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ens%20entium. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ens entium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ens%20entium.
Source: ens entium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.