Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. No longer existing or living: an extinct species.
- adj. No longer burning or active: an extinct volcano.
- adj. No longer in use: an extinct custom. See Synonyms at dead.
- adj. Law Lacking a claimant; void: an extinct title.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Extinguished; put out; quenched.
- Having ceased; being at an end; out of existence or out of force; terminated: as, an extinct family or race; an extinct law.
- n. Extinction.
- To put out; destroy.
Wiktionary
- adj. Extinguished, no longer alight (of fire, candles etc.)
- adj. No longer used; obsolete, discontinued.
- adj. No longer in existence; having died out.
- adj. No longer actively erupting.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Extinguished; put out; quenched.
- adj. Without a survivor; without force; dead.
- adj. Once existing as a species but now having no living members; -- used of species of living organisms, especially of animals and plants.
- v. To cause to be extinct.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. being out or having grown cold
- adj. no longer in existence; lost or especially having died out leaving no living representatives
- adj. (of e.g. volcanos) permanently inactive
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Latin exstīnctus, past participle of exstinguere, to extinguish; see extinguish.
Examples
“The title extinct, the fortune gone -- so does Fate laugh at our posthumous ambition!”
“Hope evolution makes these vermin extinct soon, but the mills of God grind exceedlngly slow, but extremely fine. aware”
“The same process works going forward in time; in essence every one of us who has children and whose line does not go extinct is suspended at the center of an immense genetic hourglass.”
"Descent From Antiquity" - Genetic Trivia, or a Profound Truth?
“For example, the La Palma giant lizard of the Canary Islands was classified as extinct in 2006, before a series of sightings and photographs elevated the creature to critically endangered status.”
The Washington Post: Scientists work hard to avoid declaring a species extinct
“Whomever wrote the article missed a major headline a year ago ... they analyzed enough neandarthal skeletons, living sites, etc and found that the reason they went extinct is because the females also hunted.”
“The only human question that would sadly go extinct if we go extinct is "where does evolution go from here?", and that's not all that interesting a question anyway.”
“For those interested in extinct species, I've just published a non-facsimile reprint of Symington Grieve's The Great Auk, or Garefowl.”
“But the definition of extinct is that we are absolutely certain the last individual has died,' said Mr Hitchmough, who compiled DOC's latest lists of threatened species, including six native insects and snails also declared extinct.”
“Group weblog Re-Imagineering neatly examines certain extinct things about Disneyland in a series of posts called Elemental Losses.”
“There friggin sheep, my only concern if they go extinct is no more mutton from them.”
Think Progress » Bush Rides Roughshod Over Protected Federal Land
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘extinct’.
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Murdered, you say?
Terms of homicide; weapons, poisons, synonyms &c.
slaughtered, goes and gets her..., done in, rubbed out, bumped off, malice aforethought, marble baluster, lead spoon, stone idol, atropine, burned, clipped and 90 more...
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Earth-Friendly Organic Produce
An Ecosystem of earth/life-related words.
blueskycloudform, sojourn, reuse, reduce, compostable, habitat, ecology, bionomics, Eco-Art, sustainability, forest garden, biosystems and 47 more...
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