extinguishing

present participle of extinguish
1
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 As Mathias Jensen’s 95th-minute strike clattered into the net, at once extinguishing Manchester United’s stuttering attempt to come back from two early goals down at Brentford on Saturday lunchtime, a lot of attention turned to the away dugout. Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025 After extinguishing the fire, officials found Robert Hill, 44, deceased with severe burns, apparent head trauma, and signs of decomposition, according to Melesa Johnson with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kansas City Star, 29 Sep. 2025 The flight, which was headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was diverted, with flight attendants extinguishing the device and declaring an emergency, as Fox 5 and other outlets reported. Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 2025 Moisture of extinction was reached across most of the fire, extinguishing fine dead fuels. Ca Wildfire Bot, Sacbee.com, 15 Sep. 2025 Rescuers are extinguishing the fire. Svitlana Vlasova, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2025 Robust and verifiable world models could uncover, if not the El Dorado of AGI, then at least a scientifically plausible tool for extinguishing AI hallucinations, enabling reliable reasoning, and increasing the interpretability of AI systems. John Pavlus, Quanta Magazine, 2 Sep. 2025 For decades, fire-extinguishing foams containing PFAS seeped into the local aquifer during training exercises. Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 14 Aug. 2025 Casner said fire crews from Prospect, Southington and Wolcott assisted in extinguishing the fire. Kellie Love, Hartford Courant, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for extinguishing
Verb
  • How about firing choking smoke bombs at them?
    Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
  • In 2019 he was charged with assault and accused of choking and pushing a woman and preventing her from calling 911.
    Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The former screen siren was fined nearly $25,000 in 2008 after being convicted of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying her country.
    Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Block destruction is one of Minter’s defensive pillars, and the Chargers have not been destroying blocks on some of these explosive runs.
    Daniel Popper, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • In the clip, the then-6-year-old can be seen walking with his iPad to the next room and shushing everyone.
    Kayla Grant, PEOPLE, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Booing begins, and then shushing, and then booing again.
    Matthew Shen Goodman, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Traditional methods rely on heating metals to extreme temperatures, then rapidly quenching them to trap atoms in a chaotic arrangement.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Activating your ninth house of expansion and third house of immediate surroundings, this tricky opposition is quenching your desire for adventure while pulling you back into shady debates and undercurrents with people that surround you.
    Valerie Mesa, People.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Barner holds his arms parallel to the ground and swings them side to side while slowly stomping forward like Godzilla demolishing a city.
    Michael-Shawn Dugar, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Often, demolishing a former shopping mall can be easier for builders who might then decide to build luxury housing that does not address the current affordability crisis.
    Giulia Carbonaro, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • After the state distributor Embrafilme was dismantled in 1990, national production nearly collapsed, silencing a generation of filmmakers.
    Lise Pedersen, Variety, 12 Oct. 2025
  • To start by burning books, silencing thinkers.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Drones hit a major oil depot in occupied in Crimea, sparking a huge blaze and blanketing the sky with smoke in the latest attack on Russian oil infrastructure.
    Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Creeping Phlox Perfect for blanketing the ground between perennials, creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) flowers profusely in early spring.
    Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Packages of flying tortillas thrown at the wrong time, or pocket knives, would only hurt a reputation that Texas Tech has worked doggedly to change and show that the Red Raiders are at home on a national stage, and not the crazy drunk uncle ruining a holiday.
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Since 2021, Spotify has offered an alternative app for kids to listen to music without ruining their parents recommendations.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 14 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Extinguishing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/extinguishing. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

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