extinction
Americannoun
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the act of extinguishing.
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the fact or condition of being extinguished or extinct.
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suppression; abolition; annihilation.
the extinction of an army.
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Biology. the act or process of becoming extinct; a coming to an end or dying out.
the extinction of a species.
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Psychology. the reduction or loss of a conditioned response as a result of the absence or withdrawal of reinforcement.
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Astronomy. the diminution in the intensity of starlight caused by absorption as it passes through the earth's atmosphere or through interstellar dust.
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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.
noun
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the act of making extinct or the state of being extinct
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the act of extinguishing or the state of being extinguished
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complete destruction; annihilation
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physics reduction of the intensity of radiation as a result of absorption or scattering by matter
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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
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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a process in which the frequency or intensity of a learned response is decreased as a result of reinforcement being withdrawn Compare habituation
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The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.
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See more at background extinction mass extinction
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A progressive decrease in the strength of a conditioned response, often resulting in its elimination, because of withdrawal of a specific stimulus.
Discover More
The fossil record tells us that 99.9 percent of all species that ever lived are now extinct.
Other Word Forms
- nonextinction noun
- preextinction noun
- self-extinction noun
Etymology
Origin of extinction
1375–1425; late Middle English extinccio ( u ) n < Latin ex ( s ) tinctiōn- (stem of ex ( s ) tinctiō ). See extinct, -ion
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.
A major review of the state of the Welsh environment recently warned of "polluted rivers, failing soils" and "collapsing wildlife" - with one in five species at risk of extinction.
From BBC
On “Plastic Beach,” they tackle the climate crisis and human extinction.
From Los Angeles Times
Trematosaurids are especially significant because their fossils appear in coastal rock deposits formed less than 1 million years after the end-Permian mass extinction.
From Science Daily
He says the results could change predicted extinction dates for Emperor penguins.
From BBC
“Man’s greatest fear — and you’ve probably heard this before — is his fear of extinction,” he said in his farewell news conference.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
