Once Existed was a phrase used to describe something that had been in existence at one point, but no longer exists. It could refer to a person, place, thing, or idea that was once present, but is now gone. The two crossword solutions for this term are WAS and WERE, both of which are past tense verbs. WAS is a 3 letter word meaning 'to be' and WERE is a 4 letter word meaning 'to be' in the past tense.