extinguish
Americanverb (used with object)
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extinguishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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extinguished,
past participle, past
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extinguishing
present participle
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to put out (a fire, light, etc.); put out the flame of (something burning or lighted).
to extinguish a candle.
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to put an end to or bring to an end; wipe out of existence; annihilate.
to extinguish hope.
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to obscure or eclipse, as by superior brilliance.
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Law. to discharge (a debt), as by payment.
verb
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to put out or quench (a light, flames, etc)
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to remove or destroy entirely; annihilate
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archaic to eclipse or obscure by or as if by superior brilliance
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law to discharge (a debt)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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extinguishernoun
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extinguishmentnoun
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preextinguishmentnoun
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preextinguishverb (used with object)
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extinguishableadjective
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nonextinguishableadjective
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nonextinguishedadjective
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self-extinguishingadjective
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unextinguishableadjective
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unextinguishedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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extinguishsimple
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extinguishessimple
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have extinguishedperfect
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has extinguishedperfect
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am extinguishingprogressive
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are extinguishingprogressive
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is extinguishingprogressive
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have been extinguishingperfect progressive
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has been extinguishingperfect progressive
Past
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extinguishedsimple
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had extinguishedperfect
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was extinguishingprogressive
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were extinguishingprogressive
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had been extinguishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of extinguish
1535–45; < Latin ex ( s ) tingu ( ere ) ( ex- ex- 1 + stinguere to quench) + -ish 2
Explanation
To extinguish something means to put an end to it, and get rid of it completely. Water can extinguish a fire; nasty smells can extinguish your appetite. Extinguish comes from the Latin word for quench, but while we might think that quenching something, say our thirst, is good, the word extinguish often has sinister overtones. In a genocide, one group tries to extinguish another — too quench their hatred, by killing everyone in the other group.
Vocabulary lists containing extinguish
A Wrinkle in Time
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100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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The Great Fire
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The water used to extinguish the fires caused even more damage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
That makes them extremely difficult to extinguish and exceptionally polluting.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
Here, volunteer firefighters have been risking their lives and lungs to extinguish burning peatlands which are notoriously difficult to put out.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Fire crews were called to the scene the following morning and were able to extinguish the blaze.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
He shoved his hand in his pocket to extinguish the flames.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
And that sensibility extinguishes your ability to imagine anything else.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2024
Navy in the 1960s, the foams form an aqueous film around burning gasoline and other flammable liquids, which quickly deprives the fire of oxygen and extinguishes it.
From Science Daily ● May 9, 2024
One of the more subtle things that we added is showing how Ember extinguishes, disappears and comes back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
“We can eradicate this insidious disease that decimates communities and extinguishes lives far too soon.”
From Washington Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
Cressida’s voice snaps me back to reality, extinguishes me.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
The fires have since been extinguished and the road has reopened.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
Heathrow apologised for any disruption and said the fire was extinguished quickly.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
More than 100 wildfires have been recorded in recent days in the north-east of the country, most of which have been extinguished.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Investigators later recovered drone fragments from the vessels after the fires were extinguished.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
It was as if the entire civilization had undergone some self-inflicted brain surgery, and most of its memories, discoveries, ideas and passions were extinguished irrevocably.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
In Greater Manchester, fire crews are working to contain a moorland fire near a reservoir, while in Camberley, Hampshire, crews are extinguishing a large heathland fire.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Trump administration officials affirmed Cole Allen shot a Secret Service officer, extinguishing doubt about the source of the gunfire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
"Emergency services rushed to the scene and found the vehicle completely engulfed in flames. Firefighters carried out rescue and extinguishing operations. A security perimeter was set up," a police statement said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026
The company that flips the houses it buys online reported a widening loss of $1.1 billion, from a $113 million loss in the year-ago period, mostly on the cost of extinguishing debt.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 20, 2026
It is a curious feature of our existence that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
