different between former vs extinct

English

Alternative forms

• fmr / fmr.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??m?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??m?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English former, comparative of forme (“first”), from Old English forma (“first”), descended from Proto-Germanic *frumô. Parallel to prior (via Latin), as comparative form from same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to first and fore (thence before), from Proto-Germanic.

Adjective

former (comparative form only)

1. Previous.

   • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
3. First of aforementioned two items. Used with the, often without a noun.

Synonyms

• (previous): erstwhile, sometime, whilom, wont-to-be; see also Thesaurus:former

Antonyms

• (previous): next; see also Thesaurus:subsequent
• (first of aforementioned two items): latter

Translations

Etymology 2

form +? -er

Noun

former (plural formers)

1. Someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.

   Dave was the former of the company.

2. An object used to form something, such as a template, gauge, or cutting die.

   The brick arch was built using a wooden former.

3. (chiefly Britain, used in combinations) Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).

   Fifth-former.

   Sixth-former.

Derived terms

• pan former

Anagrams

• Reform, re-form, reform

Danish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [?f??m?]

Noun

former c

1. indefinite plural of form

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [?f??m?]

Verb

former

1. present of forme

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [f??me???]

Verb

former or formér

1. imperative of formere

French

Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Latin f?rm? (“to form”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??.me/

Verb

former

1. to form (generic sense)
2. to shape (to make into a certain shape)
3. to train; to educate

Conjugation

Related terms

• formation
• forme

Further reading

• “former” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

f?rmer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of f?rm?

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

former m or f

1. indefinite plural of form

Verb

former

1. present of forme

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

former f

1. indefinite plural of form

Swedish

Noun

former

1. indefinite plural of form

Anagrams

• reform

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1432; borrowed from Latin extinctus, the past participle of extinguere (“to put out, destroy, abolish, extinguish”), corresponding to ex- + stinguere (“to quench”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?st??kt/, /?k?st??kt/
• Rhymes: -??kt

Adjective

extinct (not comparable)

1. (dated) Extinguished, no longer alight (of fire, candles etc.)

   Poor Edward's cigarillo was already extinct.

2. No longer used; obsolete, discontinued.

   The title became extinct when the last baron died.

   Luckily, such ideas about race are extinct in current sociological theory.

   • Indeed the very fact that the English spelling system writes in there as two words but therein as one word might be taken as suggesting that only the former is a productive syntactic construction in Modern English, the latter being a now extinct construction which has left behind a few fossil remnants in the form of compound words such as thereby.

3. (of a group of organisms, as a species) No longer in existence; having died out.

4. (geology) No longer active.

Synonyms

• (no longer used): See also Thesaurus:obsolete
• (having died out): See also Thesaurus:inexistent
• (volcanology: no longer erupting): dead

Antonyms

• (no longer alight): burning
• (having died out): extant; See also Thesaurus:existent
• (volcanology: no longer erupting): active, dormant

Related terms

• extinction
• extinctive
• extinguish
• distinct

Translations

Further reading

• extinct at OneLook Dictionary Search
• extinct in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• extinct in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Verb

extinct (third-person singular simple present extincts, present participle extincting, simple past and past participle extincted)

1. (transitive, nonstandard) To make extinct; to extinguish or annihilate.