Extinctions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The complete disappearance of a species or group from existence ; the ending or stopping of an event, practice, or condition
2. The irreversible loss of plants, animals, or other organisms ; the termination or conclusion of an activity or state
3. The permanent dying out of a living group ; the halting or discontinuation of a process or phenomenon

Etymology: Extinction comes from Latin "extinctio," meaning a quenching or putting out, as of a flame. The verb behind it, "extinguere," literally meant to snuff out, and the word was used for fires and lamps long before it described species or customs. English borrowed the noun in the late Middle Ages, so its earliest sense was literal: a light going out. The shift from fire to life happened through the idea of a flame being snuffed, and the same logic carried over to anything that stops existing. A dying species, a forgotten custom, or a condition that ends all follow that pattern of something burning down to nothing. The word "extinctions" is simply the plural, referring to several such endings, whether of creatures, practices, or circumstances.

Synonyms: deaths, eradications, eliminations, cessations, extirpations

Antonyms: survivals, preservations, continuations, prolongations, extensions