unextinct

adj, verb — 3 senses

unextinct

adj

Etymology From un- + extinct (adjective).

1

Not extinct; still living.

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.1902, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Luella Miller:

Synonyms: extant

unextinct

verb

Etymology From un- + extinct (verb).

1

To make not extinct; especially, to return an extinct species to existence.

Removing graffiti. Unextincting the dodo bird.2007, Richard Greene, 'Shroom!, page 428:
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.2012, Jasper Fforde, The Woman Who Died a Lot:

1 more example

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.2017, Padraic Fogarty, Whittled Away:

2

Astronomy, Natural sciences To correct, or otherwise account for the extinction of an astronomical object.

Related terms: unextinction

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.