extinct
Americanadjective
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no longer in existence; having ended or died out.
extinct pre-Colombian societies.
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Biology, Ecology. (of a plant or animal species) having no living member remaining anywhere, not in the wild, in a naturalized population, nor in captivity, as categorized by the IUCN Red List: EX
a list of extinct animals that once inhabited the Isle of Man.
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no longer in use; obsolete.
an extinct custom.
- Synonyms:
- archaic
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extinguished; quenched; not burning.
evidence of a half dozen extinct campfires.
- Synonyms:
- out
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Geology. (of a volcano) not having erupted for at least 10,000 years and not expected to erupt again.
adjective
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(of an animal or plant species) having no living representative; having died out
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quenched or extinguished
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(of a volcano) no longer liable to erupt; inactive
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void or obsolete
an extinct political office
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Having no living members. Species become extinct for many reasons, including climate change, disease, destruction of habitat, local or worldwide natural disasters, and development into new species (speciation). The great majority of species that have ever lived—probably more than 99 percent—are now extinct.
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No longer active or burning, as an extinct volcano.
Synonym Usage
See dead.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of extinct
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin ex(s)tinctus, past participle of ex(s)tinguere; see origin at extinguish ( def. )
Explanation
Something that no longer exists and has no living representative is extinct. Dinosaurs are extinct. Polar bears may become extinct. Sadly, history teachers who force their students to memorize long lists of dates are in no danger of becoming extinct. You often hear of a species being extinct: there are no living representatives of the species left. But extinct also describes something that has gone out or grown cold, as in a dormant volcano "extinct volcano" or a tobacco pipe whose flame has died out "extinct pipe." That’s because extinct comes from the Latin extinguere/exstinguere for "extinguish." Originally extinct referred to fires that died out (were extinguished). Its meaning grew to encompass a family line and then a species.
Vocabulary lists containing extinct
Super Seismic: Words for Volcanoes and Earthquakes
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Stargirl
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Vocabulary from texts about wild animals
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Studies indicate that the species - which was only discovered in 2017 - will go extinct if it continues to lose more than 1% of its population annually.
From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026
A new, though extinct, species of whale was also identified among the nearly 500 skeletons found up to 7,000 metres deep along a 1,200 kilometre corridor of bones in the Indian Ocean west of Australia.
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
Comparisons with the modern ant genus Liometopum, which is found today in North America and warmer parts of Europe, offer clues about how the extinct species may have lived.
From Science Daily • Jun. 4, 2026
Watched and photographed by a host of humans, the annual migration of the sandhill crane, once nearly extinct, begins from an Indiana wetland in the twilight of late fall.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
If no more DNA copies remain, the species is extinct, just as a company without money is bankrupt.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
