Adjacent Words

Extreme definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EXTRE'ME, a. [L. extremus, last.] Outermost; utmost; farthest; at the utmost point, edge or border; as the extreme verge or point of a thing.
1. Greatest; most violent; utmost; as extreme pain, grief, or suffering; extreme joy or pleasure.
2. Last; beyond which there is none; as an extreme remedy.
3. Utmost; worst or best that can exist or be supposed; as an extreme case.
4. Most pressing; as extreme necessity.
Extreme unction, among the Romanists, is the anointing of a sick person with oil, when decrepit with age or affected with some mortal disease, and usually just before death. It is applied to the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet and reins of penitents, and is supposed to represent the grace of God poured into the soul.
Extreme and mean proportion, in geometry, is when a line is so divided, that the whole line is to the greater segment, as the segment is to the less; or when a line is so divided, that the rectangle under the whole line and the lesser segment is equal to the square of the greater segment.
EXTRE'ME, n. The utmost point or verge of a thing; that part which terminates a body; extremity.
1. Utmost point; furthest degree; as the extremes of heat and cold; the extremes of virtue and vice. Avoid extremes. Extremes naturally beget each other.
There is a natural progression from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny.
2. In logic, the extremes or extreme terms of a syllogism are the predicate and subject. Thus, "man is an animal: Peter is a man, therefore Peter is an animal;" the word animal is the greater extreme, and man the medium.
3. In mathematics, the extremes are the first and last terms of a proportion; as, when three magnitudes are proportional, the rectangle contained by the extremes is equal contained by the extremes is equal to the square of the mean.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of the greatest possible degree or extent or intensity; "extreme cold"; "extreme caution"; "extreme pleasure"; "utmost contempt"; "to the utmost degree"; "in the uttermost distress" [syn: extreme, utmost, uttermost]
2: far beyond a norm in quantity or amount or degree; to an utmost degree; "an extreme example"; "extreme temperatures"; "extreme danger"
3: beyond a norm in views or actions; "an extreme conservative"; "an extreme liberal"; "extreme views on integration"; "extreme opinions"
4: most distant in any direction; "the extreme edge of town" n
1: the furthest or highest degree of something; "he carried it to extremes"
2: the point located farthest from the middle of something [syn: extreme point, extreme, extremum]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin extremus, superlative of exter, exterus being on the outside — more at exterior Date: 15th century 1. a. existing in a very high degree <extreme poverty> b. going to great or exaggerated lengths ; radical <went on an extreme diet> c. exceeding the ordinary, usual, or expected <extreme weather conditions> 2. archaic last 3. situated at the farthest possible point from a center <the country's extreme north> 4. a. most advanced or thoroughgoing <the extreme political left> b. maximum 5. a. of, relating to, or being an outdoor activity or a form of a sport (as skiing) that involves an unusually high degree of physical risk <extreme mountain biking down steep slopes> b. involved in an extreme sport <an extreme snowboarder> Synonyms: see excessive • extremeness noun II. noun Date: 1555 1. a. something situated at or marking one end or the other of a range <extremes of heat and cold> b. the first term or the last term of a mathematical proportion c. the major term or minor term of a syllogism 2. a. a very pronounced or excessive degree b. highest degree ; maximum 3. an extreme measure or expedient <going to extremes>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 reaching a high or the highest degree; exceedingly great or intense (extreme old age; in extreme danger). 2 a severe, stringent; lacking restraint or moderation (take extreme measures; an extreme reaction). b (of a person, opinion, etc.) going to great lengths; advocating immoderate measures. 3 outermost; furthest from the centre; situated at either end (the extreme edge). 4 Polit. on the far left or right of a party. 5 utmost; last. --n. 1 (often in pl.) one or other of two things as remote or as different as possible. 2 a thing at either end of anything. 3 the highest degree of anything. 4 Math. the first or the last term of a ratio or series. 5 Logic the subject or predicate in a proposition; the major or the minor term in a syllogism. Phrases and idioms: extreme unction the last rites in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. go to extremes take an extreme course of action. go to the other extreme take a diametrically opposite course of action. in the extreme to an extreme degree. Derivatives: extremely adv. extremeness n. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L extremus superl. of exterus outward

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Extreme Ex*treme", n. 1. The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a body; extremity. 2. Utmost limit or degree that is supposable or tolerable; hence, furthest degree; any undue departure from the mean; -- often in the plural: things at an extreme distance from each other, the most widely different states, etc.; as, extremes of heat and cold, of virtue and vice; extremes meet. His parsimony went to the extreme of meanness. --Bancroft. 3. An extreme state or condition; hence, calamity, danger, distress, etc. ``Resolute in most extremes.'' --Shak. 4. (Logic) Either of the extreme terms of a syllogism, the middle term being interposed between them. 5. (Math.) The first or the last term of a proportion or series. In the extreme as much as possible. ``The position of the Port was difficult in the extreme.'' --J. P. Peters.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Extreme Ex*treme", a. [L. extremus, superl. of exter, extrus, on the outside, outward: cf. F. extr[^e]me. See Exterior.] 1. At the utmost point, edge, or border; outermost; utmost; farthest; most remote; at the widest limit. 2. Last; final; conclusive; -- said of time; as, the extreme hour of life. 3. The best of worst; most urgent; greatest; highest; immoderate; excessive; most violent; as, an extreme case; extreme folly. ``The extremest remedy.'' --Dryden. ``Extreme rapidity.'' --Sir W. Scott. Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire. --Shak. 4. Radical; ultra; as, extreme opinions. The Puritans or extreme Protestants. --Gladstone. 5. (Mus.) Extended or contracted as much as possible; -- said of intervals; as, an extreme sharp second; an extreme flat forth. Extreme and mean ratio (Geom.), the relation of a line and its segments when the line is so divided that the whole is to the greater segment is to the less. Extreme distance. (Paint.) See Distance., n., 6. Extreme unction. See under Unction. Note: Although this adjective, being superlative in signification, is not properly subject to comparison, the superlative form not unfrequently occurs, especially in the older writers. ``Tried in his extremest state.'' --Spenser. ``Extremest hardships.'' --Sharp. ``Extremest of evils.'' --Bacon. ``Extremest verge of the swift brook.'' --Shak. ``The sea's extremest borders.'' --Addison.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(extremes) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Extreme means very great in degree or intensity. The girls were afraid of snakes and picked their way along with extreme caution. ...people living in extreme poverty. ...the author's extreme reluctance to generalise. = great ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. You use extreme to describe situations and behaviour which are much more severe or unusual than you would expect, especially when you disapprove of them because of this. The extreme case was Poland, where 29 parties won seats... It is hard to imagine Lineker capable of anything so extreme... ADJ [disapproval] 3. You use extreme to describe opinions, beliefs, or political movements which you disapprove of because they are very different from those that most people would accept as reasonable or normal. This extreme view hasn't captured popular opinion. ...the racist politics of the extreme right. ? moderate ADJ: usu ADJ n [disapproval] 4. You can use extremes to refer to situations or types of behaviour that have opposite qualities to each other, especially when each situation or type of behaviour has such a quality to the greatest degree possible. ...a 'middle way' between the extremes of success and failure... They can withstand extremes of temperature and weather without fading or cracking. N-COUNT: usu pl, oft N of n 5. The extreme end or edge of something is its furthest end or edge. ...the room at the extreme end of the corridor. ...winds from the extreme north. = far ADJ: ADJ n 6. If a person goes to extremes or takes something to extremes, they do or say something in a way that people consider to be unacceptable, unreasonable, or foolish. The police went to the extremes of installing the most advanced safety devices in the man's house... The doctor told me not to mention dieting to her in case she took it to the extreme... PHRASE: V and N inflect 7. You use in the extreme after an adjective in order to emphasize what you are saying, especially when you want to indicate that it is something which is undesirable or very surprising. (FORMAL) It is proving controversial in the extreme... PHRASE: adj PHR [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Outermost, utmost, farthest, uttermost, most distant, most remote. 2. Greatest, highest, of the highest, of the rarest kind. 3. Last, final, ultimate. 4. Extravagant, immoderate, excessive, unreasonable. II. n. 1. End, extremity. 2. Highest degree, acme, climax.

Moby Thesaurus

Draconian, Thule, Ultima Thule, a bit much, abandon, abandoned, abnormal, acme, acute, aggrandized, aggrandizement, all, amplification, amplified, anarchistic, anarcho-syndicalist, apex, apogee, at the height, ballyhoo, ballyhooed, bibulous, big talk, bigoted, bitter end, bizarre, blowing up, bordering, borderline, bottom dollar, boundary, bounding, boundless, boundlessness, bounds, breakaway, burlesque, butt, butt end, caricature, caudal, ceiling, climax, coastal, conclusive, conservative, constrictive, consummation, crapulent, crapulous, crest, crown, culmination, cutting, deep, definitive, depth, desperate, determinant, determinative, determining, different, dilatation, dilation, disproportionate, distant, dizzy, drastic, eccentric, egregious, egregiousness, end, endmost, enhancement, enlargement, enormous, enormousness, eventual, exaggerated, exaggerating, exaggeration, exceedingly, exceptional, exceptionally, excess, excessive, excessiveness, excruciating, exorbitance, exorbitancy, exorbitant, exotic, expansion, exquisite, extraordinarily, extraordinary, extravagance, extravagancy, extravagant, extremely, extremes, extremism, extremist, extremistic, extremity, fabulous, fabulousness, factious, fag end, fanatic, fancy, far out, far-off, farthermost, farthest, farthest bound, farthest off, fierce, final, fringing, frontier, furious, furthermost, furthest, giantism, gigantic, gigantism, gluttonous, gluttony, go to extremes, grandiloquence, grandiloquent, great, greatest, haggard, harsh, height, heightening, hidebound, high, high-flown, highest degree, huckstering, hyperbole, hyperbolic, hyperbolism, hypertrophied, hypertrophy, immoderacy, immoderate, immoderateness, immoderation, in the extreme, incontinence, incontinent, indulgent, inflated, inflation, inordinacy, inordinance, inordinate, inordinateness, insurgent, insurrectionary, intemperance, intemperate, intemperateness, intense, intolerable, irrational, jumping-off place, keen, kooky, last, limbic, liminal, limit, limiting, limits, littoral, magnification, magnified, marginal, maximum, mildly radical, monstrous, monstrousness, most, most distant, moving, mutineering, mutinous, nadir, ne plus ultra, nib, nihilistic, nimiety, notable, noteworthy, nth degree, offbeat, out of bounds, out of sight, outermost, outmost, outrageous, outrageousness, outre, outstanding, overbig, overdeveloped, overdevelopment, overdone, overdrawn, overemphasis, overemphasized, overemphatic, overenthusiastic, overestimated, overestimation, overgreat, overgreatness, overgrown, overgrowth, overindulgence, overindulgent, overindulging, overkill, overlarge, overlargeness, overmuch, overmuchness, overpraised, overreligious, oversold, overstated, overstatement, overstressed, overweening, overwrought, overzealous, peak, perfervid, piercing, pink, pinnacle, poignant, point, polar, pole, prodigal, prodigality, profuse, profuseness, puffed, puffery, puffing up, queer, rabid, radical, radicalism, rebel, rebellious, red, remarkable, remotest, restrictive, revolutional, revolutionary, revolutionist, rigid, rigorous, rimming, riotous, rough, seditionary, seditious, self-indulgent, sensationalism, severe, sharp, skirting, splitting, steep, stern, stiff, stretched, stretching, strict, stringent, stub, stump, subversive, summit, superlative, swing, swinish, syndicalist, tag, tag end, tail, tail end, tall talk, terminal, terminating, terminative, the whole, threshold, tip, too much, too-muchness, top, tough, touted, touting, towering, traitorous, travesty, treasonable, turbulent, ultimate, ultra, ultra-ultra, ultraconservative, ultraist, ultraistic, ultrazealous, unbridled, uncommon, uncompromising, unconscionable, unconscionableness, unconstrained, uncontrolled, unconventional, undisciplined, undue, undueness, unfrugal, unlimited, unmeasurable, unmeasured, unreasonable, unreasonableness, unrestrained, unrestrainedness, unthrifty, unusual, unusually, unwarranted, utmost, utmost extent, uttermost, vehement, venomous, very, violent, virulent, vivid, way out, weird, wild, wild-eyed, wild-looking, worst, zealotic, zenith