extinguish

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb put an end to; kill
  2. verb put out, as of fires, flames, or lights
  3. verb extinguish by crushing

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin extinguo (“to put out (what is burning), quench, extinguish, deprive of life, destroy, abolish”), from ex (“out”) + stinguere (“to put out, quench, extinguish”). Doublet of extinct.

In classic literature

Synonyms

snuff out

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