extinct
adj.adj. describing a type of animal or plant that no longer has any living members. It can also describe something that has died out or stopped existing, like a fire or a custom.
adj. no longer in existence; having no living representatives. Often modified by 'completely' or 'nearly' and frequently used in biological or geological contexts to describe the termination of a species.
The dodo is an extinct bird.
Scientists are studying the DNA of extinct animals to understand how they once lived in this environment.
While many species are naturally lost over geological time, the current rate of extinction is significantly higher due to human activity and habitat destruction.
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.
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).
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).
Typically follows a linking verb like 'become' or 'be', or precedes the noun it modifies.
The dinosaurs are extinction.The dinosaurs are extinct.Learners often confuse the adjective 'extinct' with the noun 'extinction'.