If someone subsisted, they managed to stay alive, usually with very little food or money.
Subsisted can make people think of hard times, survival, and not having enough.
Examples:
During the war, many people subsisted on very little food.
The family subsisted by fishing and hunting.
She subsisted on just bread and water for a week.
I subsisted on only candy for a whole day!
In the desert, some animals can subsist without much water.
The old man subsisted for years in the mountains, living off the land.