functionally extinct
Doomed to vanish
Functionally extinct describes a species that still exists but can no longer sustain itself—too few individuals remain to reproduce successfully, or the population has lost its ecological role.
The species may linger for years or decades, but extinction is effectively inevitable: The northern white rhino is functionally extinct, with only two females surviving.
The term acknowledges the gap between technical existence and meaningful survival.
- endangeredAt risk of extinction
- dyingCeasing to live
- vanishingCeasing to be visible
- walking deadZombies or doomed souls
- remnantWhat stays after most goes
last · dodo · relic · population · breeding · survival · decline · collapse · tipping point · point of no return · habitat · conservation · species · irreversible · threshold · ghost · lingering · doomed
- extinctiondodo, died out, passenger pigeon, Tasmanian tiger, thylacine
- wildlife statusendangered, vulnerable, threatened, rare species, critically endangered
functionally extinctthriving
Succeeding vigorously
flourishing · viable · self-sustaining · robust · stable
function, functional, functionally, functions, functioning, functioned, dysfunction, dysfunctional, functionary