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extinction
[ ik-stingk-shuhn ]
noun
- the act of extinguishing.
- the fact or condition of being extinguished or extinct.
- suppression; abolition; annihilation:
the extinction of an army.
- Biology. the act or process of becoming extinct; a coming to an end or dying out:
the extinction of a species.
- Psychology. the reduction or loss of a conditioned response as a result of the absence or withdrawal of reinforcement.
- Astronomy. the diminution in the intensity of starlight caused by absorption as it passes through the earth's atmosphere or through interstellar dust.
- Crystallography, Optics. the darkness that results from rotation of a thin section to an angle extinction angle at which plane-polarized light is absorbed by the polarizer.
extinction
/ ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən /
noun
- the act of making extinct or the state of being extinct
- the act of extinguishing or the state of being extinguished
- complete destruction; annihilation
- physics reduction of the intensity of radiation as a result of absorption or scattering by matter
- 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
- See habituationpsychol a process in which the frequency or intensity of a learned response is decreased as a result of reinforcement being withdrawn Compare habituation
extinction
/ ĭk-stĭngk′shən /
- The fact of being extinct or the process of becoming extinct.
- See more at background extinction
- 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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Notes
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Other Words From
- nonex·tinction noun
- preex·tinction noun
- self-ex·tinction noun
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Word History and Origins
Origin of extinction1
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Example Sentences
Pat Robertson wants to talk about the extinction of the gays.
Your existence contributes to over-population, climate change, and species extinction.
How might we resurrect a tradition threatened with extinction?
And thanks to oil palm plantations springing up in Africa, chimpanzees are in danger of extinction.
Over this image we hear: “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.”
Poor brutes, they deserved a better fate than the cruel method of extinction which Turkish rule administered.
With the extinction of the lights on the other boat came at last deeper night to her aid.
I am bored to death, to extinction; my thoughts are the colour of that water which flows over yonder, brackish and heavy.
You must remember that the next war between France and Germany must mean extinction for one.
Further difficulties now arose which led finally to the extinction of the company.
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