Extinction definition

ĭk-stĭngkshən
extinctions
See word origin
Frequency:
The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.
noun
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The condition of being extinguished.
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(physiology) A gradual decrease in the excitability of a nerve to a previously adequate stimulus, usually resulting in total loss of excitability.
noun
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The act of extinguishing.

The extinction of the fire took several hours.

noun
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The condition of being extinguished.

Mourned the extinction of their dreams.

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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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(physiology) A gradual decrease in the excitability of a nerve to a previously adequate stimulus, usually resulting in total loss of excitability.
noun
3
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A dying out.
noun
3
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The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.
noun
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(psychology) A reduction or a loss in the strength or rate of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement is withheld.
noun
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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 definition of extinction is putting something out.

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

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(astronomy) 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 act of extinguishing.
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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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(physiol., psychol.) 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.

noun
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(psychology) A reduction or a loss in the strength or rate of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement is withheld.
noun
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1
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The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.
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1
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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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
extinction
Plural:
extinctions

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.

  • On the extinction of the male line of the house of Habsburg in Spain he was named heir by the will of Charles II.

  • On the extinction (1218) of that dynasty both castle and town passed to the counts of Kyburg, and from them, with the rest of their possessions, in 1272 by marriage to the cadet line of the Habsburgs.

  • To this consummation, with its necessary accompaniment in the extinction of prophecy, the book of Haggai already points.

  • This ratification of the oligarchical principle, together with the establishment in 1311 of the Council of Ten, completed that famous constitution which endured till the extinction of the republic in 1797.

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Words near extinction in the Dictionary