extinction

English

Etymology

From late Middle English, borrowed from Latin extinctio (“extinction, annihilation”), from extinguere, past participle extinctus (“to extinguish”); see extinguish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən/

Noun

extinction (countable and uncountable, plural extinctions)

1. The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.
   • 1922, Dhalla, Maneckji Nusservanji, Zoroastrian Civilization‎^[1], page 41:

     Thirteen long centuries have elapsed since the extinction of the last Zoroastrian Empire […]

   • 1955, A. W. Schorger, The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction, →ISBN, page vii:

     The extinction of a species once so numerous seemed incredible.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, via PC, →ISBN, →OCLC, scene: Eden Prime:

     Dr. Manuel: You're wasting your time. The age of humanity is over. Our extinction is inevitable.

   • 2012 January, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist‎^[2], volume 100, number 1, page 70:

     Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.

   • 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:

     On the East and West Coast Main Lines in the 1950s/60s, for example, we saw the extinction of intermediate stations in order to create the same sort of accelerations that IRP is now promising. Back then, the priority was faster main line services, with wayside/intermediate stations paying the ultimate price.

2. (astronomy) The absorption or scattering of electromagnetic radiation emitted by astronomical objects by intervening dust and gas before it reaches the observer.
3. (pathology) The inability to perceive multiple stimuli simultaneously.
4. (psychology) The fading of a conditioned response over time if it is not reinforced.

Derived terms

• extinction event
• mass extinction

 

Related terms

• extinctionism
• extinctionist
• extinct
• extinguish
• hemiextinction

Translations

the action of making or becoming extinct

• Arabic: اِنْقِرَاض m (inqirāḍ)
• Asturian: estinción f
• Belarusian: выміра́нне n (vymiránnje)
• Bulgarian: загасване n (zagasvane), потушаване n (potušavane)
• Catalan: extinció (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 滅絕／灭绝 (zh) (mièjué), 灭绝 (zh) (mièjué)

• Czech: zánik (cs) m, vymření n, vyhynutí n (dying out)
• Danish: uddøen c, tilintetgørelse (da) c, udslettelse c
• Dutch: uitsterven (nl)
• Esperanto: formorto
• Finnish: sukupuutto (fi)
• French: extinction (fr) f
• Galician: extinción (gl) f
• Georgian: გადაშენება (gadašeneba), ამოწყვეტა (amoc̣q̇veṭa), მოსპობა (mosṗoba), ამოხოცვა (amoxocva), ამოწყდომა (amoc̣q̇doma)
• German: Aussterben (de) n
• Hebrew: הכחדה (he) f (hakkhada)
• Hungarian: kihalás (hu), kipusztulás
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: útdauði (is) m
• Indonesian: kepunahan
• Japanese: 絶滅 (ja) (ぜつめつ, zetsumetsu)
• Kazakh: жойылу (joiylu), қырылу (qyrylu)
• Korean: 멸종(滅種) (ko) (myeoljong)
• Latin: exstinctiō f, extinctiō f
• Latvian: izmiršana f
• Malay: kepupusan
• Maori: meto
• Polish: wymieranie (pl) n, wygaszenie (pl) n, wymarcie (pl) n, wytępienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: extinção (pt)
• Russian: вымира́ние (ru) n (vymiránije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: izumiranje

• Spanish: extinción (es) f
• Swedish: utrotning (sv) c
• Tagalog: paglipol, lipol, pagkalipol
• Thai: การสูญพันธุ์ (th) (gaan-sǔun-pan)
• Ukrainian: вимира́ння n (vymyránnja)
• Yoruba: àkúrun

References

• “extinction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “extinction”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ctenitoxin

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin extinctiō, extinctiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.stɛ̃k.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

extinction f (plural extinctions)

1. extinction

Derived terms

• extinction massive

 

Related terms

• éteint

Further reading

• “extinction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.