extreme
Noun pluralextremes
Pluralextremes
- 1Very great or very strong, reaching the highest level.
Like turning a dial all the way up to the very top.
The cold that night was extreme, and nobody wanted to go outside.
She felt extreme joy when she saw her family again.
UsageSay more extreme and most extreme. Often used with feelings or weather: extreme heat.
- 2Much more than is normal or needed.
Like asking for ten scoops of ice cream when one is enough.
The price seemed extreme for such a small bag.
His reaction was extreme for such a tiny mistake.
Similarexcessive, immoderate, unreasonable, extravagant, undue
Oppositemoderate, reasonable
- 3The highest or strongest point that something can reach.
Like the very top of a ladder, with no higher step to climb.
She takes tidiness to an extreme and cleans her desk every hour.
He pushed his body to the extreme during training.
UsageOften in take something to an extreme. Dull in the extreme means very dull.
- 4One of the two points at the very ends of a range.
Like the two ends of a seesaw, as far apart as can be.
Hot and cold are the two extremes of temperature.
One extreme is total silence, and the other is constant noise.
UsageUsually plural: extremes of heat, from one extreme to the other.
Oppositemiddle, center, midpoint
Note
- 5Of people, groups, or ideas: very far from the middle in politics or religion.
The party asked its most extreme members to leave before the election.
His ideas about religion grew more extreme after he joined the group.
UsageOften in the extreme left or the extreme right in politics.
Similarradical, extremist, fanatical, militant
Oppositemoderate, mainstream
- 6
- 7
- 8Of a sport: difficult or dangerous to do, in conditions that involve real risk.
Like riding a bike, but down a steep mountain full of rocks.
She films extreme athletes as they race down icy mountains.
Whitewater kayaking is an extreme activity that demands real skill.
UsageMost often in extreme sports.
Similardangerous
Less common meanings
- 9A very strong action taken to deal with a problem.
Like skipping every meal just to save a little money.
Locking the doors all day was an extreme he hoped to avoid.
They went to extremes to keep the secret safe.
UsageMostly in go to extremes. For one strong action, people usually say an extreme measure.
Similarexpedient
- 10Very, to the greatest degree.
In the empty and extreme cold theatre.
1796, Charles Burney, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of MetastasioHere, extreme means very, to the greatest degree, as in extremely cold.Note
- 11In a math proportion, one of the two numbers at the outer ends.
Like the two end seats in a row, with the middle seats between them.
In the proportion 2:4 = 3:6, the number 6 is an extreme.
To check the proportion, she made sure the two extremes multiplied together matched the two means multiplied together.
Oppositemean
Note
- 12
- 13The final moments of someone's life, close to death.
Note
- 14Great troubles or very hard times.
a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts, With ceaſeleſſe and diſconſolate conceits, Which dies my lookes so liueleſſe as they are, And might, if my extreames had ful euents, Make me the gaſtly counterfeit of death.
c. 1587, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First PartHere, extreames means great troubles or very hard times.Note
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Practice
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Origin
Latin extrēmus became extreme in Old French, and English took the word from there in late Middle English.