extinct
Americanadjective
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no longer in existence; having ended or died out.
extinct pre-Colombian societies.
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Biology, Ecology. (of a plant or animal species) having no living member remaining anywhere, not in the wild, in a naturalized population, nor in captivity, as categorized by the IUCN Red List: EX
a list of extinct animals that once inhabited the Isle of Man.
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no longer in use; obsolete.
an extinct custom.
- Synonyms:
- archaic
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extinguished; quenched; not burning.
evidence of a half dozen extinct campfires.
- Synonyms:
- out
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Geology. (of a volcano) not having erupted for at least 10,000 years and not expected to erupt again.
adjective
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(of an animal or plant species) having no living representative; having died out
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quenched or extinguished
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(of a volcano) no longer liable to erupt; inactive
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void or obsolete
an extinct political office
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Having no living members. Species become extinct for many reasons, including climate change, disease, destruction of habitat, local or worldwide natural disasters, and development into new species (speciation). The great majority of species that have ever lived—probably more than 99 percent—are now extinct.
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No longer active or burning, as an extinct volcano.
Related Words
See dead.
Other Word Forms
- nonextinct adjective
- unextinct adjective
Etymology
Origin of extinct
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin ex(s)tinctus, past participle of ex(s)tinguere; extinguish ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Now they are in danger of going extinct.
“But what he fears more than that is to become extinct with insignificance.”
From Los Angeles Times
Researchers selected 23 hybrid tortoises with the closest genetic links to the extinct subspecies and began breeding them in captivity on Santa Cruz island.
From BBC
I’m no Luddite, though I did cling to my BlackBerry, with its winning Lilliputian keyboard, surrendering reluctantly to an iPhone only when the BlackBerry became extinct.
Dragons live for a tremendous time, of course, but during the second century of this blight, they began to fear that their kind would become extinct after all.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
