unextinct

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English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From un- +‎ extinct (adjective).

Adjective[edit]

unextinct (not comparable)

  1. Not extinct; still living.
    • 1902, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Luella Miller:
      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.
Synonyms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From un- +‎ extinct (verb).

Verb[edit]

unextinct (third-person singular simple present unextincts, present participle unextincting, simple past and past participle unextincted)

  1. To make not extinct; especially, to return an extinct species to existence.
    Synonym: de-extinct
    • 2007, Richard Greene, 'Shroom!, page 428:
      Removing graffiti.
      Unextincting the dodo bird.
    • 2012, Jasper Fforde, The Woman Who Died a Lot:
      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.
    • 2017, Padraic Fogarty, Whittled Away:
      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.