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Former vs Extinct - What's the difference?

former | extinct | Related terms |

Former is a related term of extinct.


As adjectives the difference between former and extinct

is that former is previous while extinct is (dated) extinguished, no longer alight (of fire, candles etc).

As a noun former

is someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.

former

English

Alternative forms

* (l)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) former, comparative of . Parallel to (m) (via Latin), as comparative form from same Proto-Indo-European root. Related to (m) and (m) (thence (m)), from Proto-Germanic.

Adjective

(-)
  • 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.
  • (senseid) First of aforementioned two items. Used with the , often without a noun.
  • :
  • Synonyms
    * (previous) anterior, erstwhile, previous, prior, quondam, ex- * See also
    Antonyms
    * latter

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who forms something; a maker; a creator or founder.
  • Dave was the former of the company.
  • An object used to form something, such as a template, gauge, or cutting die.
  • ''The brick arch was built using a wooden former .
  • (chiefly, British, used in combinations) Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).
  • ''Fifth-former
    Sixth-former .
    Derived terms
    * pan former

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * reform ----

    extinct

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (dated) Extinguished, no longer alight (of fire, candles etc.)
  • Poor Edward's cigarillo was already extinct .
  • No longer used; obsolete, discontinued.
  • * 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 suggest-
    ing 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
    .
  • No longer in existence; having died out.
  • The dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.
  • (vulcanology) No longer actively erupting.
  • Most of the volcanos on this island are now extinct .

    Synonyms

    * dead

    Antonyms

    * (no longer alight) burning * (having died out) extant * active, dormant