extinction

What it means

1. countableuncountableThe action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.

   The extinction of a species once so numerous seemed incredible.

   1955, A. W. Schorger, The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction, →ISBN, page vii

   5 more examples

   Thirteen long centuries have elapsed since the extinction of the last Zoroastrian Empire[…]

   1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 41

   Their lives were short; all were condemned by the early 1930s, presumably because, like most classes of G.S.W.R. engines, their small numbers invited extinction under any comprehensive programme of standardisation.

   1951 November, David R. Webb, “The Drummond 4-4-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 773

   Dr. Manuel: You're wasting your time. The age of humanity is over. Our extinction is inevitable.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime

   Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.

   2012 January 28, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2012, page 70

   On the East and West Coast Main Lines in the 1950s/60s, for example, we saw the extinction of intermediate stations in order to create the same sort of accelerations that IRP is now promising. Back then, the priority was faster main line services, with wayside/intermediate stations paying the ultimate price.

   2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3

2. countableuncountableastronomyThe absorption or scattering of electromagnetic radiation emitted by astronomical objects by intervening dust and gas before it reaches the observer.
3. countableuncountablemedicineThe inability to perceive multiple stimuli simultaneously.

In a sentence

Thirteen long centuries have elapsed since the extinction of the last Zoroastrian Empire[…]

1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 41

Where it comes from

1. Latinextinctio“extinction, annihilation”
2. Englishextinction

From late Middle English, borrowed from Latin extinctio (“extinction, annihilation”), from extinguere, past participle extinctus (“to extinguish”); see extinguish.