extinction

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ex=tinc=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

extinction, n. [L. extinctio, exstinction: cf. F. extinction.].

•  The act of extinguishing or making extinct; a putting an end to; the act of putting out or destroying light, fire, life, activity, influence, etc.  [1913 Webster]
•  State of being extinguished or of ceasing to be; destruction; suppression; as, the extinction of life, of a family, of a quarrel, of claim.  [1913 Webster]
•  The ceasing to exist of a species of living organism, such as a plant or animal, whose numbers declined to the point where the last member of the species died and therefore no new members of the species could ever again be born.  [PJC]

  " Extinctions have occurred many times throughout the history of life on Earth, and abundant evidence of the prior existence of animals and plants are found as fossils in rock formations many millions of years old. It is believed by some that due to the influence of man on the environment and destruction of habitat, the rate of extinction of species is now higher than at any previous time on this planet. Extinctions of some animals in recent years have actually been reliably recorded, such as that of the dodo bird. A remarkable example of extinction is that of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) in North America, which once numbered in the billions, and the last living member of which species was recorded as dying in captivity in 1914."  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

extinction, n.
1 the act of making extinct; the state of being or process of becoming extinct.
2 the act of extinguishing; the state of being extinguished.
3 total destruction or annihilation.
4 the wiping out of a debt.
5 Physics a reduction in the intensity of radiation by absorption, scattering, etc.

Derivative

extinctive adj.

Etymology

L extinctio (as EXTINCT)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

extinction

n. The raw material out of which theology created the future state.

THESAURUS

extinction

abolishment, abolition, abscission, amputation, annihilation, annulment, bane, biological death, blackout, blocking, burning out, burnout, cessation of life, choking, choking off, clinical death, controlling, crossing the bar, curtains, damping, death, death knell, debt of nature, decease, dematerialization, demise, departure, deracination, destruction, disappearance, disappearing, dispersion, dissipation, dissolution, dissolving, doom, dousing, dying, ebb of life, eclipse, elimination, end, end of life, ending, eradication, erasure, eternal rest, evanescence, evaporation, excision, exclusion, exit, expiration, extermination, extinguishment, extirpation, fadeaway, fadeout, fading, final summons, finger of death, fire fighting, flame-out, going, going off, going out, grave, hand of death, jaws of death, knell, last debt, last muster, last rest, last roundup, last sleep, leaving life, liquidation, loss of life, making an end, melting, mutilation, negation, nullification, occultation, parting, passing, passing away, passing over, perishing, purge, putting out, quenching, quietus, release, rescission, rest, reward, rooting out, sentence of death, shades of death, shadow of death, silencing, sleep, smotheration, smothering, snuffing, snuffing out, somatic death, stifling, strangulation, suffocation, summons of death, suppression, uprooting, vanishing, vanishing point, voiding, wipe

ROGET THESAURUS

extinction

Inexistence

N inexistence, nonexistence, nonsubsistence, nonentity, nil, negativeness, nullity, nihility, nihilism, tabula rasa, blank, abeyance, absence, no such thing, nonbeing, nothingness, oblivion, annihilation, extinction, extinguishment, extirpation, Nirvana, obliteration, inexistent, nonexistent, negative, blank, missing, omitted, absent, insubstantial, shadowy, spectral, visionary, unreal, potential, virtual, baseless, in nubibus, unsubstantial, vain, unborn, uncreated, unbegotten, unconceived, unproduced, unmade, perished, annihilated extinct, exhausted, gone, lost, vanished, departed, gone with the wind, defunct, fabulous, ideal, supposititious &c, negatively, virtually, non ens.

End

N end, close, termination, desinence, conclusion, finis, finale, period, term, terminus, endpoint, last, omega, extreme, extremity, gable end, butt end, fag-end, tip, nib, point, tail, verge, tag, peroration, bonne bouche, bottom dollar, tail end, rear guard, consummation, denouement, finish, fate, doom, doomsday, crack of doom, day of Judgment, dies irae, fall of the curtain, goal, destination, limit, determination, expiration, expiry, extinction, extermination, death, end of all things, finality, eschatology, break up, commencement de la fin, last stage, turning point, coup de grace, deathblow, knock-out-blow, sockdolager, ending, final, terminal, definitive, crowning, last, ultimate, hindermost, rear, caudal, vergent, conterminate, conterminous, conterminable, ended, at an end, settled, decided, over, played out, set at rest, conclusive, penultimate, last but one, last but two, unbegun, uncommenced, fresh, finally, in fine, at the last, once for all, as high as Heaven and as deep as hell, deficit omne quod nascitur, en toute chose il faut considerer la fin, finem respice, ultimus Romanorum.

Destruction

N destruction, waste, dissolution, breaking up, diruption, disruption, consumption, disorganization, fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash, eboulement, smash, havoc, delabrement, debacle, break down, break up, fall apart, prostration, desolation, bouleversement, wreck, wrack, shipwreck, cataclysm, washout, extinction, annihilation, destruction of life, knock-down blow, doom, crack of doom, destroying, demolition, demolishment, overthrow, subversion, suppression, abolition, biblioclasm, sacrifice, ravage, razzia, inactivation, incendiarism, revolution, extirpation, beginning of the end, commencement de la fin, road to ruin, dilapidation, sabotage, destroyed, perishing, trembling to its fall, nodding to its fall, tottering to its fall, in course of destruction, extinct, all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing, destructive, subversive, ruinous, devastating, incendiary, deletory, destroying, suicidal, deadly, with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer, delenda est Carthago, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, ecrasez l'infame.

Darkness

N darkness, absence of light, blackness, obscurity, gloom, murk, dusk, Cimmerian darkness, Stygian darkness, Egyptian darkness, night, midnight, dead of night, witching hour of night, witching time of night, blind man's holiday, darkness visible, darkness that can be felt, palpable obscure, Erebus, the jaws of darkness, sablevested night, shade, shadow, umbra, penumbra, sciagraphy, obscuration, occultation, adumbration, obumbration, obtenebration, offuscation, caligation, extinction, eclipse, total eclipse, gathering of the clouds, shading, distribution of shade, chiaroscuro, noctivagation, black body, hohlraum, black hole, dark star, dark matter, cold dark matter, dark, darksome, darkling, obscure, tenebrious, sombrous, pitch dark, pitchy, pitch black, caliginous, black, sunless, lightless &c (sun) (light), somber, dusky, unilluminated &c (illuminate), nocturnal, dingy, lurid, gloomy, murky, murksome, shady, umbrageous, overcast, cloudy, darkened, dark as pitch, dark as a pit, dark as Erebus, benighted, noctivagant, noctivagous, in the dark, in the shade, brief as the lightning in the collied night, eldest Night and Chaos, ancestors of Nature, the blackness of the noonday night, the prayer of Ajax was for light.

Obliteration

N obliteration, erasure, rasure, cancel, cancellation, circumduction, deletion, blot, tabula rasa, effacement, extinction, obliterated, out of print, printless, leaving no trace, intestate, unrecorded, unregistered, unwritten, Int, dele, out with it!, delenda est Carthago.