unextinct

English

Etymology 1

From un- +‎ extinct (adjective).

Adjective

unextinct (not comparable)

1. Not extinct; still living.
   • 1902, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Luella Miller:

     There was only one person in the village who had actually known Luella Miller. That person was a woman well over eighty, but a marvel of vitality and unextinct youth.

Synonyms

• extant

Etymology 2

From un- +‎ extinct (verb).

Verb

unextinct (third-person singular simple present unextincts, present participle unextincting, simple past and past participle unextincted)

1. To make not extinct; especially, to return an extinct species to existence.

   Synonym: de-extinct

   • 2007, Richard Greene, 'Shroom!, page 428:

     Removing graffiti.
     Unextincting the dodo bird.

   • 2012, Jasper Fforde, The Woman Who Died a Lot:

     He was a resequenced neanderthal named Stiggins and soon to be, I assumed, divisional head of SO-13, the department that policed all unextincted creatures.

   • 2017, Padraic Fogarty, Whittled Away:

     The good news is that, with the exception of the giant auk which will only return if genetic cloning can find a way to 'unextinct' it, there are ways of getting our wildlife out of the intensive care unit.

Related terms

• unextinction