of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average: extreme measures.
utmost or exceedingly great in degree: extreme joy.
farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost: the extreme limits of a town.
farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction: an object at the extreme point of vision.
exceeding the bounds of moderation: extreme fashions.
going to the utmost or very great lengths in action, habit, opinion, etc.: an extreme conservative.
last or final: extreme hopes.
Chiefly Sports. very dangerous or difficult: extreme skiing.
noun
the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree: cautious to an extreme.
one of two things as remote or different from each other as possible: the extremes of joy and grief.
the furthest or utmost length; an excessive length, beyond the ordinary or average: extremes in dress.
an extreme act, measure, condition, etc.: the extreme of poverty.
Mathematics.
the first or the last term, as of a proportion or series.
a relative maximum or relative minimum value of a function in a given region.
Logic. the subject or the predicate of the conclusion of a syllogism; either of two terms that are separated in the premises and brought together in the conclusion.
Archaic. the utmost point, or extremity, of something.
Origin of extreme
1425–75;late Middle English < Latinextrēmus, superlative of exterus “outward.” See exterior
Related formsex·treme·ness, nouno·ver·ex·treme, adjectivequa·si-ex·treme, adjectivesu·per·ex·treme, adjectivesu·per·ex·treme·ly, adverbsu·per·ex·treme·ness, nounun·ex·treme, adjective
early 15c., from Old French extreme (13c.), from Latin extremus "outermost, utmost, farthest, last," superlative of exterus (see exterior).
In English as in Latin, not always felt as a superlative, hence more extreme, most extreme (which were condemned by Johnson). The noun is first recorded 1540s, originally of the end of life, cf. Latin in extremis. Extreme unction preserves the sense of "last, latest" (15c.). Extremes "opposite ends of anything" is from 1550s.
