possibly extinct

[pos-uh-blee ik-stingkt]

adjective

Biology, Ecology.

1. (as categorized by theIUCN Red List ) critically endangered to such an extent that evidence of its existence is profoundly limited and extremely difficult to verify: PE

   We can hope to find survivors among a possibly extinct species, but sadly we know how unlikely that is.

Word History and Origins

Origin of possibly extinct¹

First recorded in 2005–10

Example Sentences

Waesche, meanwhile, though dormant and possibly extinct, may offer an answer to the most pressing question in Antarctic volcanology: With ice melting ever more quickly, will the volcanoes grow more active?

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“We were ignoring vast amounts of DNA from unknown or possibly extinct organisms.”

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Two years later, Mr. Thayer mounted an elephant as part of an expedition to seek a possibly extinct Southeast Asian bovine called a kouprey.

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Add in the number of possibly extinct species and the tally comes to 573.

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Among the most seriously threatened reptiles, Young said, is Chapman's pygmy chameleon, a small lizard inhabiting low elevation rainforests in Malawi that had been considered possibly extinct but now has been found in a few forest fragments.

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