Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To put out (a fire, for example); quench.
- v. To put an end to (hopes, for example); destroy. See Synonyms at abolish.
- v. To obscure; eclipse.
- v. Law To settle or discharge (a debt).
- v. Law To nullify: extinguished their title to the property.
- v. Psychology To bring about the extinction of (a conditioned response).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To put out; quench; stifle: as, to extinguish fire or flame.
- To destroy; put an end to; suppress: as, to extinguish an army; to extinguish desire or hope; to extinguish a claim or title.
- To put under a cloud; obscure: eclipse; make unnoticed or unnoticeable: as, he was completely extinguished in this brilliant company.
- In law, to put an end to. See extinguishment, 2.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive to put out, as in fire; to end burning; to quench
- v. transitive to destroy or abolish something
- v. transitive to obscure or eclipse something
- v. transitive, psychology to bring about the extinction of a conditioned reflex
- v. transitive, literally to hunt down (a species) to extinction
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To quench; to put out, as a light or fire; to stifle; to cause to die out; to put an end to; to destroy.
- v. To obscure; to eclipse, as by superior splendor.
WordNet 3.0
- v. put out, as of fires, flames, or lights
- v. put an end to; kill.
- v. terminate, end, or take out
- v. kill in large numbers
- v. extinguish by crushing
Etymologies
- From Latin extinguo, past participle extinctus ("to put out (what is burning), quench, extinguish, deprive of life, destory, abolish"), from ex ("out") + stinguere ("to put out, quench, extinguish"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin exstinguere : ex-, intensive pref.; see ex- + stinguere, to quench; see steig- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Does not a little word extinguish all pleasures of that sort?”
“By taking Reid's comments about President Obama out of context, we do ourselves an injustice -- the same injustice we do when we want to "extinguish" racist comments.”
Srinivasan Pillay: The Reid Comments: The Double-Edged Sword of Racial Insensitivity
“Nothing and no-one told me that because education was compulsary, I should therefore "extinguish" the amount of voluntary learning I did outside of school hours.”
“On Tuesday the court heard that former president Nelson Mandela also offered to "extinguish" Zuma's debt because he feared that Zuma's financial problems were "distracting him from his duties at the ANC".”
“By law, local authorities were not allowed to "extinguish" housing debt, and was compelled to collect all monies due and payable.”
“As a matter of curiosity, I should like to see the man 'extinguish' himself by stepping forward and telling us in plain English language, had he been a member of the Legislature, would he have voted against the people expressing their opinion upon the subject.”
The Beginnings of Public Education in North Carolina; A Documentary History, 1790-1840. Vol. II
“But if they don't like the look of their match, they can 'extinguish' the spark, without sharing anything.”
“If the petition reaches that stage, the committee must decide whether to submit a bill to the legislature that would "extinguish" the HST and pay back all the extra money collected under it, or stage a province-wide referendum on the measure.”
“He now tries to woo Lib Dem voters and MPs, not "extinguish" them.”
“The 1997 Supreme Court of Canada decision in favour of the Gitxsan (known as the Delgamuukw decision) rejected B. C.'s effort to "extinguish" aboriginal title.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘extinguish’.
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
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Words that end in "-ish" but aren't a...
embellish, flourish, garnish, rubbish, nourish, admonish, punish, finish, blemish, abolish, accomplish, parish and 41 more...
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Verb ish
English verbs that end in -ish.
Most of these come from Old French stems that end in 'iss' like floriss-, brandiss-, distinguiss-, etc.
Exceptions are: Fish, Wish, Dish (f...flourish, brandish, vanish, astonish, perish, polish, nourish, famish, accomplish, admonish, banish, blemish and 24 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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The Ex-acting Xray
Out of this world via the "X-express".
exorbitant, exuberant, extant, exultant, expectorate, exhilarate, excommunicate, exacting, extenuate, exculpate, extirpate, expostulate and 110 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, E
excoriate, exoskeleton, enclave, endemic, erstwhile, entwine, elliptical, élan, earflaps, earlobe, earthen, earthenware and 238 more...
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amsstory's list
pretentious, delectable, egomaniacal, lionize, titillate, nebulous, obfuscation, ostentatious, wry, precipice, ethereal, echo and 150 more...
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verbs
shock, stun, stagger, astound, astonish, startle, jolt, abandon, relinquish, renounce, desert, yield and 74 more...
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