extinction

Etymology

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

noun

1. The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.
   Thirteen long centuries have elapsed since the extinction of the last Zoroastrian Empire[…] 1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 41
   The extinction of a species once so numerous seemed incredible. 1955, A. W. Schorger, The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction, page vii
   Dr. Manuel: You're wasting your time. The age of humanity is over. Our extinction is inevitable. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime
   Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force. 2012-01, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2012-01-26, page 70
   On the East and West Coast Main Lines in the 1950s/60s, for example, we saw the extinction of intermediate stations in order to create the same sort of accelerations that IRP is now promising. Back then, the priority was faster main line services, with wayside/intermediate stations paying the ultimate price. January 12 2022, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3
   In Perthshire, the Aberdeenshire catchments of Deeside and Donside, in Moray and Nairnshire to the north-east, the populations are in low single figures, putting them on the brink of local extinction. 17 June 2023, Severin Carrell, “Dancing Capercaillie bird makes a tentative comeback in Scotland”, in The Guardian
2. (astronomy) The absorption or scattering of electromagnetic radiation emitted by astronomical objects by intervening dust and gas before it reaches the observer.
3. (pathology) The inability to perceive multiple stimuli simultaneously.
4. (psychology) The fading of a conditioned response over time if it is not reinforced.