Extinction
noun
The end of a species of animal everywhere in the world.
The extinction of the dinosaurs happened millions of years ago.

Often appears as...
- face extinction
- risk of extinction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The end or elimination of something.
The extinction of cultural practices can be a negative consequence of globalization.

Often appears as...
- extinction of traditions
- extinction of knowledge
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The reduction of the intensity of light due to absorption and scattering.
In optics, the extinction of light can be caused by various phenomena.

Often appears as...
- extinction coefficient
- light extinction
Usage tips
Technical
noun
The process of a conditioned response becoming gradually weaker.
The child's fear of dogs decreased over time, a process known as extinction in psychology.

Often appears as...
- extinction in conditioning
- fear extinction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The end of a species of animal everywhere in the world.
The extinction of the dinosaurs happened millions of years ago.

Often appears as...
- face extinction
- risk of extinction
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The end or elimination of something.
The extinction of cultural practices can be a negative consequence of globalization.

Often appears as...
- extinction of traditions
- extinction of knowledge
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The reduction of the intensity of light due to absorption and scattering.
In optics, the extinction of light can be caused by various phenomena.

Often appears as...
- extinction coefficient
- light extinction
Usage tips
Technical
noun
The process of a conditioned response becoming gradually weaker.
The child's fear of dogs decreased over time, a process known as extinction in psychology.

Often appears as...
- extinction in conditioning
- fear extinction
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 4

Global Perspective
Used when discussing worldwide species loss, often in environmental science or conservation contexts.

Many rainforest species are at risk of global extinction due to deforestation.
Emotionally Charged
May evoke emotions as it relates to the permanent loss of animal species.

Activists argue that the extinction of any species is a tragic loss.
Conservation Talks
Often used in conversation or media discussing conservation efforts and endangered species.

The foundation's efforts have successfully halted the extinction of several local species.
Global Perspective
Used when discussing worldwide species loss, often in environmental science or conservation contexts.

Many rainforest species are at risk of global extinction due to deforestation.
Emotionally Charged
May evoke emotions as it relates to the permanent loss of animal species.

Activists argue that the extinction of any species is a tragic loss.
Conservation Talks
Often used in conversation or media discussing conservation efforts and endangered species.

The foundation's efforts have successfully halted the extinction of several local species.
Global Perspective
Used when discussing worldwide species loss, often in environmental science or conservation contexts.

Many rainforest species are at risk of global extinction due to deforestation.
Emotionally Charged
May evoke emotions as it relates to the permanent loss of animal species.

Activists argue that the extinction of any species is a tragic loss.
Conservation Talks
Often used in conversation or media discussing conservation efforts and endangered species.

The foundation's efforts have successfully halted the extinction of several local species.
Video examples
Earth's mass extinctions...
The ranges of stuff -- the red line is the mass extinction. But we've got survivors and things that get through, and it turns out the things that get through preferentially are cold bloods. Warm-blooded animals take a huge hit at this time. The survivors that do get through produce this world of crocodile-like creatures.
Video examples
When will the next mass...
occur too quickly for most living creatures to adapt, causing thousands of species to die off in a geological instant. We call this a mass extinction event, and although such events may be rare, paleontologists have been able to identify several of them
Video examples
The coelacanth: A living...
and was believed to have died out during the same mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. To biologists and paleontologists, this creature was a very old and fascinating but entirely extinct fish, forever fossilized.
Video examples
Can wildlife adapt to...
evolution won't be the answer. Instead, many of those species will have to rely on us to help them survive a changing world or face extinction. The good news is we already have the tools. Across the planet, we're making on-the-ground decisions
Video examples
Nature's Oddest Looking...
the other plants and animals that rely on them are also in danger invasive species are now the number one threat to Australia's native wildlife they have already contributed to the extinction of more than a hundred indigenous species
Video examples
Language is the building...
our stories ways of understanding for my culture affect the way I lead I was taught a worldview without a living language my tribes language like many indigenous languages was brought to the point of extinction by colonialism
Video examples
Sir David Attenborough...
leather basil and the booze of extinction and nobody cares that peaked my interest len took the leatherback's future into his own hands he began patrolling the beach at night to protect the turtles a brave thing to do
Video examples
When The World Gets 1℃...
percent of species could be a threat of extinction solely due to climate change this isn't just about losing wonders of nature the loss of even the smallest organisms destabilizes the world's ecosystems
Video examples
Sharks 101 PIPE National...
devours its weaker brothers and sister. Some sharks are at risk of extinction. Every year an estimated 100 million sharks are killed worldwide, in large part for the shark fin trade.
Video examples
How a single-celled...
There's an organism that changed the world. It caused both the first mass extinction in Earth's history and also paved the way for complex life. How?
Video examples
Earth's mass extinctions...
The ranges of stuff -- the red line is the mass extinction. But we've got survivors and things that get through, and it turns out the things that get through preferentially are cold bloods. Warm-blooded animals take a huge hit at this time. The survivors that do get through produce this world of crocodile-like creatures.
Video examples
When will the next mass...
occur too quickly for most living creatures to adapt, causing thousands of species to die off in a geological instant. We call this a mass extinction event, and although such events may be rare, paleontologists have been able to identify several of them
Video examples
The coelacanth: A living...
and was believed to have died out during the same mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. To biologists and paleontologists, this creature was a very old and fascinating but entirely extinct fish, forever fossilized.
Video examples
Can wildlife adapt to...
evolution won't be the answer. Instead, many of those species will have to rely on us to help them survive a changing world or face extinction. The good news is we already have the tools. Across the planet, we're making on-the-ground decisions
Video examples
Nature's Oddest Looking...
the other plants and animals that rely on them are also in danger invasive species are now the number one threat to Australia's native wildlife they have already contributed to the extinction of more than a hundred indigenous species
Video examples
Language is the building...
our stories ways of understanding for my culture affect the way I lead I was taught a worldview without a living language my tribes language like many indigenous languages was brought to the point of extinction by colonialism
Video examples
Sir David Attenborough...
leather basil and the booze of extinction and nobody cares that peaked my interest len took the leatherback's future into his own hands he began patrolling the beach at night to protect the turtles a brave thing to do
Video examples
When The World Gets 1℃...
percent of species could be a threat of extinction solely due to climate change this isn't just about losing wonders of nature the loss of even the smallest organisms destabilizes the world's ecosystems
Video examples
Sharks 101 PIPE National...
devours its weaker brothers and sister. Some sharks are at risk of extinction. Every year an estimated 100 million sharks are killed worldwide, in large part for the shark fin trade.
Video examples
How a single-celled...
There's an organism that changed the world. It caused both the first mass extinction in Earth's history and also paved the way for complex life. How?
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Joel Sternfeld
American Photographer
No one can say how long the process of human extinction might take, but as it proceeds, the same global order will prevail that always prevails: rich nations will find ways to protect themselves and make themselves comfortable, while the poor nations and the poor people of the planet will suffer.

Quote examples
Cameron Russell
American Model
In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an incredibly serious threat. In fact, we are technically in the sixth mass extinction right now, and it is the first mass extinction being attributed to humans.

Quote examples
Lynn Margulis
American Scientist
All scientists agree that evolution has occurred - that all life comes from a common ancestry, that there has been extinction, and that new taxa, new biological groups, have arisen. The question is, is natural selection enough to explain evolution? Is it the driver of evolution?

Quote examples
Thomas Huxley
English Scientist
The struggle for existence holds as much in the intellectual as in the physical world. A theory is a species of thinking, and its right to exist is coextensive with its power of resisting extinction by its rivals.

Quote examples
Frans Lanting
Dutch Photographer
I want to interpret the natural world and our links to it. It's driven by the belief of many world-class scientists that we're in the midst of an extinction crisis... This time it's us that's doing it.

Quote examples
John Foster Dulles
American Public Servant
There are plenty of problems in the world, many of them interconnected. But there is no problem which compares with this central, universal problem of saving the human race from extinction.

Quote examples
Gail Bradbrook
British Activist
Human extinction in our children's lifetime, it should be your top news item every single day, what's happening, you should be holding politicians to account.

Quote examples
Lester B. Pearson
Canadian Politician
The choice, however, is as clear now for nations as it was once for the individual: peace or extinction.

Quote examples
T. S. Eliot
American Poet
The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.

Quote examples
Paul Craig Roberts
American Economist
Humans regard animals as worthy of protection only when they are on the verge of extinction.

Quote examples
Joel Sternfeld
American Photographer
No one can say how long the process of human extinction might take, but as it proceeds, the same global order will prevail that always prevails: rich nations will find ways to protect themselves and make themselves comfortable, while the poor nations and the poor people of the planet will suffer.

Quote examples
Cameron Russell
American Model
In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an incredibly serious threat. In fact, we are technically in the sixth mass extinction right now, and it is the first mass extinction being attributed to humans.

Quote examples
Lynn Margulis
American Scientist
All scientists agree that evolution has occurred - that all life comes from a common ancestry, that there has been extinction, and that new taxa, new biological groups, have arisen. The question is, is natural selection enough to explain evolution? Is it the driver of evolution?

Quote examples
Thomas Huxley
English Scientist
The struggle for existence holds as much in the intellectual as in the physical world. A theory is a species of thinking, and its right to exist is coextensive with its power of resisting extinction by its rivals.

Quote examples
Frans Lanting
Dutch Photographer
I want to interpret the natural world and our links to it. It's driven by the belief of many world-class scientists that we're in the midst of an extinction crisis... This time it's us that's doing it.

Quote examples
John Foster Dulles
American Public Servant
There are plenty of problems in the world, many of them interconnected. But there is no problem which compares with this central, universal problem of saving the human race from extinction.

Quote examples
Gail Bradbrook
British Activist
Human extinction in our children's lifetime, it should be your top news item every single day, what's happening, you should be holding politicians to account.

Quote examples
Lester B. Pearson
Canadian Politician
The choice, however, is as clear now for nations as it was once for the individual: peace or extinction.

Quote examples
T. S. Eliot
American Poet
The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.

Quote examples
Paul Craig Roberts
American Economist
Humans regard animals as worthy of protection only when they are on the verge of extinction.

Example 1 of 10
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