extinct
/ɪkˈstɪŋkt/
Frequency: 3.66 in modern English
Meaning
adj
Of fire, etc.: no longer alight; of a light, etc.: no longer shining; extinguished, quenched.
Archaic
adj
Of feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.: put out, as if like a fire; quenched, suppressed.
adj
Of customs, ideas, laws and legal rights, offices, organizations, languages, etc.: no longer existing or in use; defunct, discontinued, obsolete; specifically, of a title of nobility: no longer having any person qualified to hold it.
adj
Of an animal or plant species or group of species, a group of people, a family, etc., having no living members, representatives, or descendants.
adj
Of a geological feature: no longer active; specifically, of a volcano: no longer erupting.
adj
Of a radioisotope: no longer occurring primordially due to having decayed away completely, because it has a relatively short half-life.
Example Sentences
- "Edward’s cigarillo was extinct by the time he had finished talking."
- "Ah pleaſant proof! / That piety has ſtill in human hearts / Some place, a ſpark or tvvo not yet extinct."
- "Most of the lamps were extinct, but they glittered golden in the morning light, and in some few a pale white flame yet struggled with day."
- "My breath is corrupt, my dayes are extinct, the graues are ready for me."
- "I am the Lord, your holy one, the Creatour of Iſrael, your King. […] Which bringeth foorth the charet and horſe, the armie and the power: they ſhall lie downe together, they ſhall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as towe."
- "Conversation seemed nearly extinct, and yet neither offered to turn back."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *stengʷ-, extinct, extīnctus, extincten
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪkˈstɪŋkt/
- British English: /ɪkˈstɪŋkt/