ex·tinct
ik-ˈstiŋ(k)t 
ˈek-ˌstiŋ(k)t
ˈek-ˌstiŋ(k)t
1
a
: no longer burning
b
: no longer active
an extinct volcano
2
: no longer existing
an extinct animal
3
a
: gone out of use : superseded
b
: having no qualified claimant
an extinct title
Examples of extinct in a Sentence
Adjective
Many of these old traditions have since become extinct.
a few overgrown ruins are all that remain of that once mighty but now extinct civilization
Recent Examples on the Web
Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Now, new research has dated rocks in the Naashoibito Member to the same time period as the Hell Creek Formation, revealing what kinds of dinosaurs lived in different parts of North America just a few hundred thousand years before going extinct.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
How did Indigenous people in North America interpret fossils of dinosaurs and other long-extinct animals?
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
When the Pleistocene megafauna went extinct, the loss contributed to the regional restriction of these plants, since no one was around to spread their seeds.
—Aditya Reddy Kurre, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for extinct
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Adjective
The marine heatwave that gripped Florida in 2023 was hotter than anything Florida has seen in 150 years, and claimed at least two victims — species of corals now marked ‘functionally extinct’ from Florida’s reefs.
—Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
Now, new research has dated rocks in the Naashoibito Member to the same time period as the Hell Creek Formation, revealing what kinds of dinosaurs lived in different parts of North America just a few hundred thousand years before going extinct.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
How did Indigenous people in North America interpret fossils of dinosaurs and other long-extinct animals?
—Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025
When the Pleistocene megafauna went extinct, the loss contributed to the regional restriction of these plants, since no one was around to spread their seeds.
—Aditya Reddy Kurre, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for extinct
Cite this Entry
“Extinct.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extinct. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
extinct
adjective
ex·tinct
ik-ˈstiŋ(k)t
ˈek-ˌ
ˈek-ˌ
: no longer existing : lacking living representatives
extinct prehistoric animals
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