extinguish

Verb

extinguish (third-person singular simple present extinguishes, present participle extinguishing, simple past and past participle extinguished)

1. (transitive) To stop (fire, etc.) from burning; also, to stop (light, etc.) from shining; to put out, to quench.

   Synonyms:

   douse, extinct, smother

2. (figuratively, transitive) To eclipse or obscure (someone or something).
   • A beauty that extinguishes all others by comparison
   • The rays of the sun were extinguished by the thunder clouds.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To kill (someone).

   Synonyms:

   extinct

4. (figuratively, transitive) To put an end to (something) completely; to annihilate, to destroy.
   • She extinguished all my hopes.
   • They intended to extinguish the enemy by force of numbers

   Synonyms:

   extinct, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck, blot out, blotto, dash

5. (figuratively, transitive) To bring about the extinction of (a conditioned reflex).
   • Many patients can extinguish their phobias after a few months of treatment.

   Synonyms:

   extinct, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck, blot out, blotto, dash

6. (figuratively, transitive) To suppress (something, as feelings, a person's spirit, a state of affairs, etc.); to quench.

   Synonyms:

   extinct

7. (figuratively, transitive) To abolish or make void (a law, a legal right, etc.); also, to cancel (a creditor's claim, a licence, etc.).
   • 1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575
   • If the amnesty becomes law as expected this month or in June, it promises to extinguish the charges Puigdemont faces of disobedience and misuse of public funds.2024 May 11, Barney Jopson, “Catalonia separatist deal tested at ballot box”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2

   Synonyms:

   extinct

8. (intransitive, reflexive) To die out.