extinct
/ɪkˈstɪŋkt/ adjective, verb, noun
Forms extincts extincting extincted
- adjective (archaic) Of fire, etc.: no longer alight; of a light, etc.: no longer shining; extinguished, quenched. “Edward’s cigarillo was extinct by the time he had finished talking.”
- adjective Of feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.: put out, as if like a fire; quenched, suppressed.
- adjective Of customs, ideas, laws and legal rights, offices, organizations, languages, etc.: no longer existing or in use; defunct, discontinued, obsolete; specifically, of a title of nobility: no longer having any person qualified to hold it. “Luckily, such ideas about race are extinct in current sociological theory.”
- adjective (biology) Of an animal or plant species or group of species, a group of people, a family, etc., having no living members, representatives, or descendants. “Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.”
- adjective (geology) Of a geological feature: no longer active; specifically, of a volcano: no longer erupting. “Most of the volcanos on this island are now extinct.”
- adjective (nuclear physics) Of a radioisotope: no longer occurring primordially due to having decayed away completely, because it has a relatively short half-life.
- adjective (obsolete) Of a person: dead; also, permanently separated from others.
- verb (obsolete) To stop (fire, etc.) from burning; also, to stop (light, etc.) from shining; to put out, to quench.
- verb (obsolete, figurative) To kill (someone).
- verb (obsolete, figurative) To put an end to (something) completely; to annihilate, to destroy.
- verb (specifically, biology) To cause (an animal or plant species) to die out completely or become extinct (adjective etymology 1 sense 2.3).
- verb (obsolete, figurative) To suppress (something, as feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.); to quench.
- verb (obsolete, figurative, chiefly law) To abolish or make void (a law, a legal right, etc.); also, to cancel (a creditor's claim, a license, etc.).
- noun (obsolete) Synonym of extinction (“the action of becoming or making extinct; annihilation”).
Synonyms
anachronistic antediluvial antediluvian antiquated antique archaic backward backwards behind the times cobwebbed cobwebby dated defunct desuete discontinued disused dootsie elderly expired fossilized nonextant out
Antonyms
alight burning inextinct unextinct abuzz active agile airy alive animate animated brisk extant
Etymology
From Late Middle English extinct (“eliminated, eradicated, extinguished”), from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus (“extinguished, quenched; destroyed, killed; made extinct”), the perfect passive participles of extinguō, exstinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench; (figurative) to abolish; to destroy, kill”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + stinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench”) (from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (“to push”)). The Middle English word displaced Middle English aqueint, aquenched (“extinct; extinguished”). Doublet of extinguish.
From Middle English extincten (“to extinguish or put out (a fire, light, etc.); to destroy, kill; (figurative) to suppress (an uprising); (law) to quash or stop (legal proceedings); to cancel (a privilege, title, etc.); (medicine) to eliminate or reduce (inflammation, an ulcer, etc.)”), from extinct (adjective) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).
* from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus, a noun use of the perfect passive participle of extinguō, exstinguō (see etymology 1); or
* from the verb (see etymology 2).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Extinguished; put out; quenched; as, a fire, a light, or a lamp, is extinct; an extinct volcano.
- adjective Without a survivor; without force; dead; as, a family becomes extinct; an extinct feud or law.
- verb To cause to be extinct. [Obs.] Shak.
Etymology [L. extinctus, exstinctus, p. p. of extinguere, exstinguere. See Extinguish.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “extinct”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details