extinction

American  

[ik-stingk-shuhn] / ɪkˈstɪŋk ʃən /

noun

• extinctions
  plural

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a process in which the frequency or intensity of a learned response is decreased as a result of reinforcement being withdrawn Compare habituation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

Derived Forms

• nonextinction
  noun
• preextinction
  noun
• self-extinction
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• extinctions
  plural

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

See Examples For:

extinction extinctions

"This international collaboration to support the last remaining individual could prevent the extinction of a species that represents a unique lineage with its own natural history," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

That afternoon, Coxon told his Anthropic colleagues he was quitting in a Slack message, saying he feared the possibility of human extinction without proper international coordination.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Humans are probably the only species on Earth that actively fantasizes about its own extinction — and definitely the only one that actively participates in it.

From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026

They’re helped out by credulous writers who’ve alluded to vague, anonymized conversations with people in the Bay Area about the same 10 percent probability of imminent extinction for a while now.

From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026

Though it will make survival possible for only a select portion of our population, unless we take extreme measures, we face the eventual extinction of the human race.

From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner

Many of the culprits then were the same as those still driving extinctions across the nation today.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Labor took office in 2022, promising no new extinctions under its watch, and it has sought to make nature protection a defining feature of its second term.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

"Our findings show that, across different organism groups, extinctions happened at much higher rates for those more vulnerable to increases in water temperature and decreases in oxygen availability."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

Powerful volcanic eruptions and rapid climate shifts repeatedly reshaped habitats, driving extinctions and opening opportunities for new species to evolve.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026

These extinctions were much more severe in Australia and the Americas than in Eurasia or Africa.

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

Related Words

• annihilation
• destruction
• elimination
• obsolescence