entity
Sign in to saveAlso known as thing, object
An entity is something that exists as itself. It does not need to be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate, or present. The verb tense of this form is to 'entitize' - meaning to convert into an entity; to perceive as tangible or alive.
An entity is anything that exists as a distinct thing, whether physical or abstract—like a person, a corporation, or an idea—without needing to be material or alive. The concept matters because it gives us a way to identify and talk about separate things in the world, from concrete objects to legal creations and intangible concepts.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- In philosophy
- In law, politics, economics, accounting
- In medicine
- In computer science
- See also
- References
- External links
An entity is something that exists as itself. It does not need to be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate, or present. The verb tense of this form is to 'entitize' - meaning to convert into an entity; to perceive as tangible or alive.
The term is broad in scope and may refer to animals; natural features such as mountains; inanimate objects such as tables; numbers or sets as symbols written on a paper; human contrivances such as laws, corporations and academic disciplines; or supernatural beings such as gods and spirits.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “entity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.