extinguishing

verb

present participle of extinguish
1
as in choking
to cause to cease burning the fire in the skillet was quickly extinguished by slamming the lid on

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in destroying
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of a fatal blunder that extinguished all hope that the team would actually win the play-offs

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in shushing
to stop the noise or speech of her final, telling point extinguished her opponents on the city council

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of extinguishing Meraz said his family was extra careful extinguishing their fireworks. — Noah Daly july 11, Idaho Statesman, 11 July 2026 After extinguishing the blaze, firefighters found the father dead on the home’s second floor. — Angelique Brenes, PEOPLE, 6 July 2026 The next phase of operations will focus on accessing and extinguishing remaining fire within more interior areas of the building. — Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2026 Authorities cautioned that extinguishing the fire could take days or even weeks. — Iris Salem, CBS News, 20 June 2026 On June 17, after extinguishing the blaze, police entered the home but didn’t find Sanchez-Muñoz. — Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today, 20 June 2026 Alongside long-standing fire deficits, which resulted from the practice of quickly extinguishing fires rather than allowing low-level fires to burn away forest debris, these factors have escalated the potential for large fires in the West. — Mukesh Kumar, The Conversation, 17 June 2026 Firefighters then shifted to mop-up operations, extinguishing hotspots within the containment lines. — Sean Campbell, Sacbee.com, 15 June 2026 The ensuing 11 pitches were all strikes to end the game, extinguishing the Dodgers’ hope and showing again how the Padres are doing this. — Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 19 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extinguishing
  1. choking
  2. destroying
  3. shushing
  4. quenching
  5. demolishing
  6. silencing
  7. blanketing
  8. ruining
Verb
  • Cotton is one of more than 100 million people across the Midwest, Northeast and mid-Atlantic breathing in dangerous air brought by thick, choking plumes of smoke from wildfires in Canada.
    — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 18 July 2026
  • The trend, which was popular on TikTok at the time, involves intentionally choking oneself or holding one’s breath until passing out.
    — Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 18 July 2026
Definition of choking
Verb
  • Keeping your lawn and garden well-maintained can also help reduce grasshopper populations by destroying their breeding habitat.
    — The Spruce, The Spruce, 21 July 2026
  • But the Pentagon’s youthful set of avid desk-warriors forget that big hurricanes and regional weather events regularly disrupt waterfront facilities on the Gulf and East coasts, destroying worker housing and permanently peeling away shipbuilders.
    — Craig Hooper, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
Definition of destroying
Verb
  • Trae Young won Madison Square Garden’s undying enmity in the 2021 playoffs for the Atlanta Hawks, punctuating game-breaking shots by shushing the crowd or bowing to the fans and waving goodbye.
    — Leah Asmelash, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
  • Wine country with kids in tow doesn’t have to mean a stressful afternoon of shushing and screen time.
    — Lauren Schuster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 June 2026
Definition of shushing
Verb
  • The uncomplicated sweetness of blackberries creates a flavorful base for a shrub, the tart, thirst-quenching non-alcoholic beverage.
    — Anna Kovel, Martha Stewart, 10 July 2026
  • The actor and new dad, 35, who got his start in the CW show Riverdale, remembers quenching his thirst with cow’s milk after playing outside as a kid.
    — Katie Hill, PEOPLE, 8 July 2026
Definition of quenching
Verb
  • Western Newspaper Union Building Plans filed with the city show that the project would include demolishing and replacing an existing building on the site.
    — Chris Higgins, Kansas City Star, 21 July 2026
  • Concerns over demolishing the Excelsior Club The decision to demolish has sparked tension with local preservationists and historians.
    — Claire Harutunian, Charlotte Observer, 16 July 2026
Definition of demolishing
Verb
  • Rebecca Solnit on the Odyssey and the Western literary tradition of silencing women.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 July 2026
  • However, defaulting to groupthink does a disservice to everyone by silencing outlier good ideas.
    — Kate Wieczorek, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
Definition of silencing
Verb
  • Most voters are unlikely to realize many of the ads blanketing Michigan’s airwaves are funded by AIPAC.
    — Joey Cappelletti, Fortune, 19 July 2026
  • Weather patterns have carried the smoke hundreds of miles south into the eastern United States, blanketing cities from the Upper Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic in a thick haze and sharply reducing air quality.
    — Mike Stunson, USA Today, 17 July 2026
Definition of blanketing
Verb
  • Floyd is no longer attracted to his wife, has trouble connecting with his teen-age stepson, and owes tens of thousands in taxes—a set of stressors that are ruining his health.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 July 2026
  • Plus, one of the biggest things that holds people back from DIY is a fear of ruining their home, but that’s virtually impossible with peel-and-stick wallpaper.
    — Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 13 July 2026
Definition of ruining

Browse Nearby Words

extinguishes
extinguishing
extirpate
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Cite this Entry

“Extinguishing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extinguishing. Accessed 24 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of extinguishing for Spanish Speakers

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