Dictionary

unextinct en · ADJ · etymology 1

Etymology

From un- + extinct (adjective).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Not extinct; still living.
   • There was only one person in the village who had actually known Luella Miller. That person was a woman well over eighty, but a marvel of vitality and unextinct youth. 1902, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Luella Miller:

Synonyms

extant

unextinct en · VERB · etymology 2

Etymology

From un- + extinct (verb).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make not extinct; especially, to return an extinct species to existence.
   • Removing graffiti. Unextincting the dodo bird. 2007, Richard Greene, 'Shroom!, page 428:
   • The good news is that, with the exception of the giant auk which will only return if genetic cloning can find a way to 'unextinct' it, there are ways of getting our wildlife out of the intensive care unit. 2017, Padraic Fogarty, Whittled Away:
   • He was a resequenced neanderthal named Stiggins and soon to be, I assumed, divisional head of SO-13, the department that policed all unextincted creatures. 2012, Jasper Fforde, The Woman Who Died a Lot:
2. To correct, or otherwise account for the extinction of an astronomical object.

Forms

Relateds

unextinction

Synonyms

de-extinct