English Explanatory Dictionary

mass extinction

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A sharp decrease in the total number of species in a relatively short period of time; specifically, a loss of ∼75% of all species on the planet over a geologically interval of less than 3 million years, as a result of a mass extinction event.

Word forms

mass extinction mass extinctions

Synonyms

mass extinction event extinction event extinction level event

Derived words

end-Triassic mass extinction Permian-Triassic mass extinction Triassic-Jurassic extinction event
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