extinction

noun

Etymology: From late Middle English, borrowed from Latin extinctio (“extinction, annihilation”), from extinguere, past participle extinctus (“to extinguish”); see extinguish.

1. The action of making or becoming extinct; annihilation.

   “Thirteen long centuries have elapsed since the extinction of the last Zoroastrian Empire[…]”

   “Their lives were short; all were condemned by the early 1930s, presumably because, like most classes of G.S.W.R. engines, their small numbers invited extinction under any comprehensive programme of standardisation.”

2. The absorption or scattering of electromagnetic radiation emitted by astronomical objects by intervening dust and gas before it reaches the observer.
3. The inability to perceive multiple stimuli simultaneously.
4. The fading of a conditioned response over time if it is not reinforced.