Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The extinction of a large number of species within a relatively short period of time, as between the Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods when three-quarters of all species on earth, including most dinosaurs, became extinct.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology A sharp decrease in the total number of
species in a relatively short period of time.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word mass extinction.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
deinonychus commented on the word mass extinction
The same as extinction event, extinction-level event and biotic crisis.
December 20, 2011