Link Centre Dictionary

extinct

ex·tinct

US/ɪkˈstɪŋkt/ fairly common

adjective

1.

no longer in existence; lost or especially having died out leaving no living representatives

  • “an extinct species of fish”
  • “an extinct royal family”
  • “extinct laws and customs”
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2.

of e.g. volcanos; permanently inactive

  • “an extinct volcano”
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3.

of a fire; being out or having grown cold

  • “threw his extinct cigarette into the stream”
  • “the fire is out”
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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.

Phrases

  • extinct language

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.