extinct

Of fire, etc.: no longer alight; of a light, etc.: no longer shining; extinguished, quenched.

Adjective

  1. Of fire, etc.: no longer alight; of a light, etc.: no longer shining; extinguished, quenched.
    • 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. - 1785, William Cowper, “Book VI. The Winter Walk at Noon.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph]...
    • 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. - 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVII, in Francesca Carrara....

    Antonyms: alight burning

  2. Of feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.: put out, as if like a fire; quenched, suppressed.
    • My breath is corrupt, my dayes are extinct, the graues are ready for me. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 17:1, column 2:
    • 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...
    • Conversation seemed nearly extinct, and yet neither offered to turn back. - 1827, [Benjamin Disraeli], chapter XII, in Vivian Grey, volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book V, page 236:
  3. 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.
    • Luckily, such ideas about race are extinct in current sociological theory.
    • The title became extinct when the last baron died.
    • [King Edward] as being deſcended of the eldeſt Daughter of Dauid, Earle of Huntingdon, a yonger ſonne of [Henry of] Scotland; vvhoſe iſſue (the line of the elder brother being extinct) vvas to inherite, vvithout...

    Synonyms: anachronistic antediluvial antediluvian antiquated antique archaic backward backwards behind the times cobwebbed cobwebby dated defunct desuete discontinued disused dootsie elderly extinct expired fossilized Havishamesque hoary idle

    Antonyms: inextinct unextinct abuzz active agile airy alive animate animated brisk busy busy as a bee buxom buzzing diligent driven driving dynamic eager effervescent energetic enthusiastic expeditious frisky

  4. Of an animal or plant species or group of species, a group of people, a family, etc., having no living members, representatives, or descendants.
    • Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.
    • I vvent dovvn aftervvards into Yorkſhire; but my Father vvas dead, and my Mother, and all the Family extinct, except that I found tvvo Siſters, and tvvo of the Children of one of my Brothers; […] - 1719 May 6 (Gregorian...
    • [M]any breeds, now extinct or rare, both of quadrupeds and birds, were still common. - 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman,...

    Synonyms: absent beingless extinct inessential inexistent nonexistent null zilch

    Antonyms: extant inextinct living nonextinct unextinct essential existent existing

  5. Of a geological feature: no longer active; specifically, of a volcano: no longer erupting.
    • Most of the volcanos on this island are now extinct.
    • They found the sites of extinct geysers.

    Synonyms: asleep at rest blessed cadaverous clay-cold deceased resting decomposed defunct departed expired extinct fey gone good inanimate inert kaput killed late lifeless living impaired low no longer with us

    Antonyms: active dormant nonextinct unextinct

  6. Of a radioisotope: no longer occurring primordially due to having decayed away completely, because it has a relatively short half-life.
  7. Of a person: dead; also, permanently separated from others.
    • [H]e may at lybertie / Paſſe ſaue without hys ieopardy / Tyll that he be from vs extyncte / And clerely out of helles precincte - [1545?], John Heywood, The Playe Called The Foure PP […], London: […] Wyllyam Myddylton,...

Origin

From Late Middle English extinct (“eliminated, eradicated, extinguished”), from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus (“extinguished, quenched; destroyed, killed; made extinct”), the perfect passive participles of extinguō, exstinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench; (figurative) to abolish; to destroy, kill”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + stinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench”) (from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (“to push”)). The Middle English word displaced Middle English aqueint, aquenched (“extinct; extinguished”). Doublet of extinguish.

Related

distinct extinction extinctive extinctively extinguish nonextinction semiextinction

Derived

coextinct extinctic extinct language extinctness extinctor extinctual extincture inextinct nonextinct pseudoextinct semiextinct unextinct

Noun

  1. Synonym of extinction (“the action of becoming or making extinct; annihilation”).
    • [W]ho is he […] as vvould not euen in the glas of Lucreſias perſeuerãce (euẽ to the vttermoſt extinct of life) ſe the vvõder of bevvty, matched vvith the indiuiduat adiũt vnſoyled conſtancy. - 1606, I. F. [i.e., John...
    • [W]ee have cauſe to feare the loſſe of our Kingdome, and you the extinct of the Engliſh nations renovvne; […] - 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Ethelred Commonly Called the Unreadie, […]”, in The History of Great...

    Synonyms: extinction

Origin

Either: * from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus, a noun use of the perfect passive participle of extinguō, exstinguō (see etymology 1); or * from the verb (see etymology 2).

Verb

  1. Synonym of extinguish.
    • […] Eugenia […] was put in the hot baths, which were extincted, and ſhe preſerued: […] At laſt the ſtorie ſaith, ſhée was with the ſword beheaded. - 1610 October, John Foxe, “The Eighth Persecution”, in Actes and...

    1. (obsolete) To stop (fire, etc.) from burning; also, to stop (light, etc.) from shining; to put out, to quench.

    2. (obsolete, figurative) To kill (someone).

    3. (obsolete, figurative) To put an end to (something) completely; to annihilate, to destroy.

      • Graunt that al ſinne & vice here maie bee ſo extinct: that thei neuer haue power to raigne in they ſeruaũtes. Amẽ. - 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “Of Them that be Baptised in Priuate Houses in Tyme...
      • […] Almes doe deliuer from all ſinne and from death;[…]. Not from that (ſaith Cyprian) which the blood of Chriſt hath once extincted, and from which the wholeſome grace of our baptiſme, and of our redeemer hath...

    4. (obsolete, figurative) To put an end to (something) completely; to annihilate, to destroy.

      (specifically, biology) To cause (an animal or plant species) to die out completely or become extinct (adjective etymology 1 sense 2.3).

      • Paleontologists determine which animal species were extincted, and geomorphologists can find cycles of soil erosion. […] The first settlers were living along the coast of this very large island off Africa [Madagascar],...

      Antonyms: de-extinct

    5. (obsolete, figurative) To suppress (something, as feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.); to quench.

      • It is more hard, loue to our ſelues to extinkt, / Then hate to other, to plucke from tharts preſinkt, / Thus, of iuſtice no let ledeth intrupcion, / Like this loue (name ſelfe loue) growne of corrupcion. - 1556, John...
      • Great Ioue, Othello guard, / And ſvvell his Saile vvith thine ovvne povvrefull breath, / That he may bleſſe this Bay vvith his tall Ship, / Make loues quicke pants in Deſdemonaes Armes, / Giue renevv'd fire to our...

    6. (obsolete, figurative, chiefly law) To abolish or make void (a law, a legal right, etc.); also, to cancel (a creditor's claim, a license, etc.).

      • So if I have a rent charge, and grant it upon condition; now, though the condition be broken, the grantee's estate is not defeated till I have made my claim: but if after any such grant my father purchase the land, and...
      • And foraſmuch as the ſaid Statute vvas ordained to give a Certainty of Title in the Lands and Tenements compriſed in the Fine, it ſeemeth that the Fine extincteth the Title of all other, as vvell in Conſcience, as it...

Origin

From Middle English extincten (“to extinguish or put out (a fire, light, etc.); to destroy, kill; (figurative) to suppress (an uprising); (law) to quash or stop (legal proceedings); to cancel (a privilege, title, etc.); (medicine) to eliminate or reduce (inflammation, an ulcer, etc.)”), from extinct (adjective) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).

Forms

extincts extincting extincted extinct

Derived

extincted extincting extincture