mass extinction en · NOUN
Meanings
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(countable, qualifier:evolutionary theory, uncountable) A sharp decrease in the total number of species in a relatively short period of time; specifically, a loss of ∼75% of all species on the planet over a geologically interval of less than 3 million years, as a result of a mass extinction event.
Preceded by five other mass extinctions and many more small extinction events, the mass extinction currently underway is, on the one hand, like all the others in that it is nothing other than a significant reduction in the number of individual organisms inhabiting the planet and at the same time a significant reduction in the diversity of species made up by those individual organisms.
2020, Jonathan Elmore, editor, Fiction and the Sixth Mass Extinction, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 4:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| mass extinctions | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Triassic-Jurassic extinction event · Permian-Triassic mass extinction · end-Triassic mass extinction
Synonyms
extinction level event · extinction event · mass extinction event
Translations (14)
de Massenaussterben (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · ru ма́ссовое вымира́ние (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · es extinción masiva (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · ca extinció massiva (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · hu tömeges kihalás (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · it estinzione di massa (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · fr extinction massive (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · pl masowe wymieranie (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · fi joukkosukupuutto (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · ga olldíothú (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · sv massdöd (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · uk ма́сове вимира́ння (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · sv massutdöende (sharp decrease in the total number of species) · pt extinção em massa (sharp decrease in the total number of species)