extinction

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   complete annihilation

   they think a meteor cause the extinction of the dinosaurs

2. 2
   noun

   no longer in existence

   the extinction of a species

3. 3
   noun

   The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.

   Thirteen long centuries have elapsed since the extinction of the last Zoroastrian Empire[…]

4. 4
   noun

   the act of extinguishing

5. 5
   noun

   a conditioning process in which the reinforcer is removed and a conditioned response becomes independent of the conditioned stimulus

6. 6
   noun

   the reduction of the intensity of radiation as a consequence of absorption and radiation

7. 7
   noun

   no longer active

8. 8
   noun

   The absorption or scattering of electromagnetic radiation emitted by astronomical objects by intervening dust and gas before it reaches the observer.

Etymology

From late Middle English, borrowed from Latin extinctio (“extinction, annihilation”), from extinguere, past participle extinctus (“to extinguish”); see extinguish.