extinction

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ex·tinc·tion

(ĭk-stĭngk′shən)

a. The act of extinguishing: The extinction of the fire took several hours.

b. The condition of being extinguished: mourned the extinction of her dreams.

2. The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct: the extinction of the passenger pigeon; languages that are in danger of extinction.

3. Psychology A reduction or a loss in the strength or rate of a conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement is withheld.

4. Physiology A gradual decrease in the excitability of a nerve to a previously adequate stimulus, usually resulting in total loss of excitability.

5. 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.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

extinction

(ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən) or

extincture

1. the act of making extinct or the state of being extinct

2. the act of extinguishing or the state of being extinguished

3. complete destruction; annihilation

4. (General Physics) physics reduction of the intensity of radiation as a result of absorption or scattering by matter

5. (Astronomy) astronomy the dimming of light from a celestial body as it passes through an absorbing or scattering medium, such as the earth's atmosphere or interstellar dust

6. (Psychology) psychol a process in which the frequency or intensity of a learned response is decreased as a result of reinforcement being withdrawn. Compare habituation

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ex•tinc•tion

(ɪkˈstɪŋk ʃən)

n.

1. the act of extinguishing.

2. the state of being extinguished or extinct.

3. the act or process of becoming extinct: the extinction of a species.

4. the reduction or loss of a conditioned response as a result of the absence or withdrawal of reinforcement.

5. the darkness that results from rotation of a thin section to an angle (extinc′tion an`gle) at which plane-polarized light is absorbed by the polarizer.

[1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	extinction - no longer active; extinguished; "the extinction of the volcano" inaction, inactiveness, inactivity - the state of being inactive
	2.	extinction - no longer in existence; "the extinction of a species" defunctness death - the absence of life or state of being dead; "he seemed more content in death than he had ever been in life"
	3.	extinction - the reduction of the intensity of radiation as a consequence of absorption and radiation absorption - (physics) the process in which incident radiated energy is retained without reflection or transmission on passing through a medium; "the absorption of photons by atoms or molecules" natural action, natural process, action, activity - a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); "the action of natural forces"; "volcanic activity" scattering - the physical process in which particles are deflected haphazardly as a result of collisions
	4.	extinction - complete annihilation; "they think a meteor cause the extinction of the dinosaurs" extermination annihilation, disintegration - total destruction; "bomb tests resulted in the annihilation of the atoll"
	5.	extinction - a conditioning process in which the reinforcer is removed and a conditioned response becomes independent of the conditioned stimulus experimental extinction conditioning - a learning process in which an organism's behavior becomes dependent on the occurrence of a stimulus in its environment
	6.	extinction - the act of extinguishing; causing to stop burning; "the extinction of the lights" extinguishing, quenching ending, termination, conclusion - the act of ending something; "the termination of the agreement"

extinction

noun dying out, death, destruction, abolition, oblivion, extermination, annihilation, eradication, obliteration, excision, extirpation Many species have been hunted to the point of extinction.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

extinction

noun

1. Utter destruction:

annihilation, eradication, extermination, extinguishment, extirpation, liquidation, obliteration.

2. The act or fact of dying:

death, decease, demise, dissolution, passing, quietus, rest.

Slang: curtain (used in plural).

Translations

إخْمادإنْقِراض

slukninguddøenudryddelse

Aussterben Erlöschen

εξάλειψη

extinción

sukupuutto

extinction disparition

kialváskihalás

aldauîi, útrÿmingslokknun

estinzione estinguere

uitsterven

slokking utdøing utslettelse

extinção

vyhasnutie

izumrtje

sön metükenmeyok olma

扑灭灭绝

extinction

[ɪksˈtɪŋkʃən] N → extinción f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

extinction

[ɪkˈstɪŋkʃ^ən] n → extinction f
to face extinction → être menacé(e) d'extinction

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

extinction

n (of race, family, animal, species, tribe) → Aussterben nt; (= annihilation) → Ausrottung f; threatened with or faced with or in danger of extinction → vom Aussterben bedroht; this animal was hunted to extinction → diese Tierart wurde durch Jagen ausgerottet

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

extinction

[ɪksˈtɪŋkʃ/ən] n (of fire) → estinzione f, spegnimento; (of race) → estinzione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

extinct

(ikˈstiŋkt) adjective

1. (of a type of animal etc) no longer in existence. Mammoths became extinct in prehistoric times.

2. (of a volcano) no longer active. That volcano was thought to be extinct until it suddenly erupted ten years ago.

extinction (ikˈstiŋkʃən) noun

1. making or becoming extinct. the extinction of the species.

2. the act of putting out or extinguishing (fire, hope etc).

ex·tinc·tion

n. extinción; supresión; cesación.

References in classic literature ?

I am in the position of a biologist who from a single bone must reconstruct not only the appearance of an extinct animal, but its habits.

View in context

Modern idealism professes to be by no means confined to the present thought or the present thinker in regard to its knowledge; indeed, it contends that the world is so organic, so dove-tailed, that from any one portion the whole can be inferred, as the complete skeleton of an extinct animal can be inferred from one bone.

View in context

In their study, the researchers said: "Although the results presented here clearly show us again the de facto impossibility to clone the mammoth by current technology, our approach paves the way for evaluating the biological activities of nuclei in extinct animal species."

Scientists take 'significant step' towards bringing WOOLLY MAMMOTHS back to life; Researchers extracted bone marrow and muscle tissue from the remains of a mammoth called Yuka, which died over 28,000 years ago

There are 743 known extinct animal species since 1500.

Should We Bring Back Extinct Species?

"From these models we can get an idea of the type of behavior an extinct animal could perform, and why its skeleton was shaped in a particular way," Rayfield writes on the website she maintains at seis.bris.ac.uk/~glejr/.

Fossils and FEA: paleontologists use an engineering technology to explore animal evolution and see how extinct animals behaved

The saiga is an extinct animal, which is recorded in the Red Book and protected by the state.

Saigas Death in Kazakistan

In an echo of Jurassic Park, DNA from an extinct animal has been re-activated in the laboratory for the first time.

Tiger reviving; INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA

DODO DNA: In an echo of Jurassic Park, DNA from an extinct animal has been reactivated in the laboratory for the first time.

5 minute NATIONAL news round-up: IT'S A MAD, MAD WORLD..

None of them can resuscitate the once living, now extinct animal. Indeed, not even an exact, life-size replica of a creature can bear witness to its carnal and spiritual presence.

RACHEL BERWICK

Some time later a senior manager asked her why she had said the "power stations are dead." It seems the translator, unfamiliar with "mammoth," had found in the dictionary "large extinct animal" and had used that interpretation.

Ahh ... the pitfalls of international communication

The right-hand page, headed in clear large type bears the name of a particular extinct animal such as The Dodo or the Bali Tiger.