Extinction meaning

ĭk-stĭngk'shən
Extinction is defined as the act of ending the existence of a plant or animal.

An example of extinction is killing off the last of a rare bird.

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The dimming of celestial objects, usually measured in magnitudes, due to scattering and absorption of their light as it passes through interstellar dust clouds and the earth's atmosphere.
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The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.
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A reduction or a loss in the strength or rate of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement is withheld.
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A gradual decrease in the excitability of a nerve to a previously adequate stimulus, usually resulting in total loss of excitability.
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A putting out or being put out, as of a fire.
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A destroying or being destroyed; annihilation; abolition.
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The fact or state of being or becoming extinct.
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A dying out.
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The weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response that is no longer being reinforced.
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The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.

The extinction of the passenger pigeon; languages that are in danger of extinction.

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A reduction or a loss in the strength or rate of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement is withheld.
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A gradual decrease in the excitability of a nerve to a previously adequate stimulus, usually resulting in total loss of excitability.
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The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.
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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.
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The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.
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(astronomy) The absorption or scattering of electromagnetic radiation emitted by astronomical objects by intervening dust and gas before it reaches the observer.
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The definition of extinction is putting something out.

An example of extinction is putting out a fire at a campsite.

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Origin of extinction

  • From French extinction, from Latin extinctio (“extinction, annihilation”), from extinguere, past participle extinctus (“to extinguish”); see extinguish.
    From Wiktionary

Extinction Sentence Examples

  • Extinction may come about indirectly and even more surely.

  • Though now on the way to extinction, Cycadeae are still widely represented in the southern hemisphere by genera which, however, have no counterpart in the Mesozoic era.

  • The vitality of the prose literature was not much greater though its complete extinction was from the nature of the case impossible.

  • Mass extinction, deforestation, dead zones in oceans, and on and on and on.

  • The present structure was erected subsequent to the extinction of the Jacobite rebellion.

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Words near extinction in the Dictionary