Link Centre Dictionary

extinguish

ex·tin·guish

UK/ɪkˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪʃ/ US/ɪˈkstɪŋɡwɪʃ/ uncommon

verb

1.

put an end to; kill

  • “The Nazis snuffed out the life of many Jewish children”
Synonyms
2.

put out, as of fires, flames, or lights

  • “Too big to be extinguished at once, the forest fires at best could be contained”
  • “quench the flames”
  • “snuff out the candles”
3.

extinguish by crushing

  • “stub out your cigar”
4.

kill in large numbers

  • “the plague wiped out an entire population”

Origin

Borrowed from Latin extinguo (“to put out (what is burning), quench, extinguish, deprive of life, destroy, abolish”), from ex (“out”) + stinguere (“to put out, quench, extinguish”). Doublet of extinct.

Phrases

  • fire extinguisher

Related words

Broader terms

Related verbs

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.