De-extinction

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The process of returning an extinct species back into the world. neologism, uncountable, usually

    "Even this more limited ambition, however, speaks eloquently of the rapid progress being made in the area of de-extinction."

Synonyms

All synonyms
unextinction

Example

More examples

"An international team of scientists has sequenced the complete genome of the woolly mammoth. Led by the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, the work opens the door to recreate the huge herbivore, which last roamed the Earth 4,000 years ago. VOA’s Rosanne Skirble considers the science of de-extinction and its place on the planet."

Etymology

From de- + extinction.

Related phrases

de-extinctioned

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.