as in destruction
the state or fact of being rendered nonexistent, physically unsound, or useless
the state's population of moose has been replenished, having once been hunted almost to extinction
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Recent Examples of extinction
The Endangered Species Act, signed into law in 1973, has been incredibly effective at preventing extinction and has put hundreds of plants and animals on the road to recovery.
—
Elise Bennett, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 May 2025
There’s also the qualm that once the world realizes AGI has been achieved, perhaps mass panic will arise, or evildoers will seek to turn AGI toward global extinction.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
The new administration can quibble with the technical points of the listing, Koch said, but that will do nothing to change the reality: The bird is at risk of extinction and needs to be protected.
—Benji Jones, Vox, 16 May 2025
The game is set on a planet on the brink of societal collapse when a monstrous threat in the form of underground creatures known as the Locust take humanity to the verge of extinction.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for extinction
Elise Bennett, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 May 2025
There’s also the qualm that once the world realizes AGI has been achieved, perhaps mass panic will arise, or evildoers will seek to turn AGI toward global extinction.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
The new administration can quibble with the technical points of the listing, Koch said, but that will do nothing to change the reality: The bird is at risk of extinction and needs to be protected.
—Benji Jones, Vox, 16 May 2025
The game is set on a planet on the brink of societal collapse when a monstrous threat in the form of underground creatures known as the Locust take humanity to the verge of extinction.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for extinction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extinction
Noun
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What makes that even scarier is that Florida’s road record — an .800 win percentage matched by only 17 other teams in the modern era — actually undersells the destruction.—
The Athletic NHL Staff,
New York Times,
31 May 2025
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The book also examines the growing movement to grant legal rights to rivers as a way to prevent their destruction by corporations and governments, which are themselves protected by a vast array of legal rights.—
Erik Pedersen,
Oc Register,
30 May 2025
Noun
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Smoke follows a detective (Jurnee Smollett) and an arson investigator (Taron Egerton) who are trying to catch a pair of serial arsonists wreaking fiery havoc across the Pacific Northwest.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
28 May 2025
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Infusing the trenches with Allen and Hargrave should make for more havoc in one-on-one matchups.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Noun
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One of the key themes of Part II is the fact that everyone is only seeing things from their perspective; all these characters who are suffering loss and passing that suffering on to others are doing so in ignorance.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
27 May 2025
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The Democratic Party suffered significant blows in 2024 with President Donald Trump's reelection and the narrow loss of both chambers of Congress.—
Hannah Gaskill,
Baltimore Sun,
27 May 2025
Noun
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If the meltdown occurs in the next 10 days or so, the error is reversible, as the major demolition of Line 2 will not have started and that tube can be kept open, with repairs instituted nights and weekends only.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
23 May 2025
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The money to pay for the additional costs will be taken from the contingency fund for Project 2, the demolition and reconstruction of the southeast portion of the school which is expected to cost nearly $102 million.—
Bob Skolnik,
Chicago Tribune,
23 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Extinction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extinction. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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