extinction
Use Extinction in a sentence
ʃən noun
1.
the act of extinguishing.
2.
the fact or condition of being extinguished or extinct.
3.
suppression; abolition; annihilation: the extinction of an army.
4.
Biology. the act or process of becoming extinct; a coming to an end or dying out: the extinction of a species.
5.
Psychology. the reduction or loss of a conditioned response as a result of the absence or withdrawal of reinforcement.
6.
Astronomy. the diminution in the intensity of starlight caused by absorption as it passes through the earth's atmosphere or through interstellar dust.
7.
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To extinction
00:10
Extinction
is always a great word to know.
So is unfit. Does it mean:
| an organism that is not adapted to prevailing conditions or producing offspring that maintain its contribution of genes to the next generation |
| the compact area of a nerve cell that constitutes the nucleus and surrounding cytoplasm, excluding the axons and dendrites |
Collins
World English Dictionary
extinction (ɪkˈstɪŋkʃən) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 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. | physics reduction of the intensity of radiation as a result of absorption or scattering by matter |
| 5. | 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. | psychol Compare habituation a process in which the frequency or intensity of a learned response is decreased as a result of reinforcement being withdrawn |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
extinction
late 15c., from L. extinctionem/exstinctionem, noun of action from extinguere/exstinguere (see extinguish). Originally of fires, lights; figurative use, of wiping out a material thing (a debt, a person, a family, etc.) from early 17c.; of species from 1880.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
extinction ex·tinc·tion (ĭk-stĭngk'shən)
n.
Progressive reduction in the strength of the conditioned response in successive conditioning trials during which only the conditioned stimulus is presented and the unconditioned stimulus is omitted. See absorbance.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
extinction (ĭk-stĭngk'shən) Pronunciation Key
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
extinction definition
The disappearance of a species from the Earth.
Note: The fossil record tells us that 99.9 percent of all species that ever lived are now extinct.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
There is also opportunity cost to consider: the things extinction could make harder.
For years, they were considered vermin in their own land, hunted almost to extinction.
With the birds so close to the brink of extinction in these countries, that might be good enough for now.
Barber-Scotia, a four-year college here, is on the edge of extinction.
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