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
Taking his third break opportunity provided encouragement to the 24,000 home fans on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but Zverev quickly reasserted his authority early in the fourth to extinguish American dreams.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
"With the limitations we have, we try as hard as we can to extinguish the fires and also to reduce the smoke."
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
That makes them extremely difficult to extinguish and exceptionally polluting.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
If the rats can truly extinguish our light, they extinguish our life as well,” said Vikus.
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
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
It’s gasp-inducing, but Blount says it extinguishes itself quickly and barely leaves a mark on the cloth.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2023
Masjid throws me a glance of surprise in the rearview mirror, and I catch a faint glimmer of a smile that he quickly extinguishes.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
The blaze has been extinguished, the fire department said.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Heathrow apologised for any disruption and said the fire was extinguished quickly.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Since the fire was extinguished, Lineage has been tasked with removing roughly 88 million pounds of spoiled and decomposing food, along with fire and demolition debris.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
The fires burning through parts of France and Spain haven’t yet been extinguished, but the blame game is already heating up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 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
"Firefighters are working on extinguishing the fire and assessing patients," it said on X.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
Ecologist Angharad Owen, who started the petition calling for aerial support to tackle blazes in remote places like Rhinogydd, said they were "proven to be highly effective in managing and extinguishing wildfires swiftly".
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Its title suggests the regime is moving toward national reconciliation by extinguishing the spurious records it created of crimes it claims its opponents committed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
The Los Angeles Fire Department has faced criticism for not fully extinguishing the Lachman fire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 27, 2025
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.
