extinction

American  

[ik-stingk-shuhn] / ɪkˈstɪŋk ʃən /

noun

1. the act of extinguishing.

2. the fact or condition of being extinguished or extinct.

3. suppression; abolition; annihilation.

   the extinction of an army.

4. Biology. the act or process of becoming extinct; a coming to an end or dying out.

   the extinction of a species.

5. Psychology. the reduction or loss of a conditioned response as a result of the absence or withdrawal of reinforcement.

6. Astronomy. the diminution in the intensity of starlight caused by absorption as it passes through the earth's atmosphere or through interstellar dust.

7. Crystallography, Optics. the darkness that results from rotation of a thin section to an angle extinction angle at which plane-polarized light is absorbed by the polarizer.

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extinction British  

/ ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən /

noun

1. the act of making extinct or the state of being extinct

2. the act of extinguishing or the state of being extinguished

3. complete destruction; annihilation

4. physics reduction of the intensity of radiation as a result of absorption or scattering by matter

5. astronomy the dimming of light from a celestial body as it passes through an absorbing or scattering medium, such as the earth's atmosphere or interstellar dust

6. psychol a process in which the frequency or intensity of a learned response is decreased as a result of reinforcement being withdrawn Compare habituation

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extinction Scientific  

/ ĭk-stĭngk′shən /

1. The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.

2. See more at background extinction mass extinction

3. A progressive decrease in the strength of a conditioned response, often resulting in its elimination, because of withdrawal of a specific stimulus.

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extinction Cultural  

1. The disappearance of a species from the Earth.

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Discover More

The fossil record tells us that 99.9 percent of all species that ever lived are now extinct.

Other Word Forms

• nonextinction
  noun
• preextinction
  noun
• self-extinction
  noun

Etymology

Origin of extinction

1375–1425; late Middle English extinccio ( u ) n < Latin ex ( s ) tinctiōn- (stem of ex ( s ) tinctiō ). See extinct, -ion

Explanation

Extinction is when all members of a particular group die. Most often, we use it to discuss animal species. Many fear that the tiger is headed for extinction because of development and hunting. People are still trying to figure out what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs: many think it was because of an asteroid. When people cut down rain forests, it can lead to the extinction of many species. Although extinction can be natural or unintended, the word can also mean forced, planned killing. Many people refer to the Holocaust as Hitler's attempt to bring about the extinction of the Jews. Languages also face extinction when no one speaks them anymore.

Example Sentences

And this small 2016 study tested a type of controlled crying called graduated extinction, which also demonstrated significant benefits to parent-reported sleep for those who were given the sleep-training advice compared to those who weren’t.

From Slate • May 3, 2026

Vultures have suffered “the fastest collapse of any group of birds on earth,” Mr. Weidensaul writes, “second only to the extinction of the passenger pigeon in terms of the sheer numbers of individuals lost.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

Even so, climate by itself cannot explain Neanderthal extinction.

From Science Daily • Apr. 28, 2026

Tapes are back in fashion for a growing number of millennials and zoomers, especially in Los Angeles, who are hitting rewind on the format’s presumed extinction.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026

That expansion may have been responsible for the extinction of Eurasia’s woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• annihilation
• destruction
• elimination
• obsolescence