WordWeb Online

1. Put out, as of fires, flames, or lights
   "Too big to be extinguished at once, the forest fires at best could be contained";
   - snuff out, quench
    
2. Extinguish by crushing
   - stub, stub out, crush out, press out
    
3. Terminate, end, or take out
   "Socialism extinguished these archaic customs";
   - eliminate, get rid of, do away with
    
4. Kill in large numbers
   "the plague extinguished an entire population";
   - eliminate, annihilate, eradicate, wipe out, decimate, carry off
    
5. Put an end to; kill
   "The Nazis extinguished the life of many Jewish children";
   - snuff out [informal]

Derived forms: extinguishes, extinguishing, extinguished

Type of: destroy, destruct, kill, spifflicate [Brit, informal], spiflicate [Brit, informal], uncreate [literary]

Encyclopedia: Extinguish