To make a fire, light, or flame stop burning or shining. It can also mean to end or destroy something such as a hope, feeling, or idea.
From Latin *extinguere* ‘to quench, put out, wipe out’, from *ex-* (‘out’) and *stinguere* (‘to quench’). It originally referred to putting out fires.
We usually talk about extinguishing fires, but we also ‘extinguish’ debts, hopes, or even species. The word carries a sense of finality—once something is extinguished, it doesn’t just pause; it’s gone.
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