[U] a situation in which a plant, an animal, a way of life etc. stops existing:
a tribe threatened with extinction / in danger of extinction * The mountain gorilla is on the verge of extinction. * a campaign to save wild koalas from extinction * Will technology in music drive creativity to extinction? * The dormouse in Britain may face extinction if ancient woodland continues to disappear. * A comet colliding with the earth may have caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
