extreme

American  

[ik-streem] / ɪkˈstrim /

adjective

extremer, extremest

1. of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average.

   extreme measures.

2. utmost or exceedingly great in degree.

   extreme joy.

   Synonyms:

   superlative

3. farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost.

   the extreme limits of a town.

   Synonyms:

   uttermost, last, ultimate

4. farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction.

   an object at the extreme point of vision.

5. exceeding the bounds of moderation.

   extreme fashions.

6. going to the utmost or very great lengths in action, habit, opinion, etc..

   an extreme conservative.

   Synonyms:

   unreasonable, uncompromising, fanatical, excessive, immoderate, extravagant

   Antonyms:

   moderate

7. last or final.

   extreme hopes.

8. Chiefly Sports. very dangerous or difficult.

   extreme skiing.

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noun

• extremes
  plural

1. the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree.

   cautious to an extreme.

2. one of two things as remote or different from each other as possible.

   the extremes of joy and grief.

3. the furthest or utmost length; an excessive length, beyond the ordinary or average.

   extremes in dress.

4. an extreme act, measure, condition, etc..

   the extreme of poverty.

5. Mathematics.

   1. the first or the last term, as of a proportion or series.

   2. a relative maximum or relative minimum value of a function in a given region.

6. 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.

7. Archaic. the utmost point, or extremity, of something.

extreme British  

/ ɪkˈstriːm /

adjective

1. being of a high or of the highest degree or intensity

   extreme cold

   extreme difficulty

2. exceeding what is usual or reasonable; immoderate

   extreme behaviour

3. very strict, rigid, or severe; drastic

   an extreme measure

4. (prenominal) farthest or outermost in direction

   the extreme boundary

5. meteorol of, relating to, or characteristic of a continental climate

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noun

1. the highest or furthest degree (often in the phrases in the extreme, go to extremes )

2. (often plural) either of the two limits or ends of a scale or range of possibilities

   extremes of temperature

3. maths

   1. the first or last term of a series or a proportion

   2. a maximum or minimum value of a function

4. logic the subject or predicate of the conclusion of a syllogism

Synonym Usage

See radical.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• extremeness
  noun
• superextremeness
  noun
• overextreme
  adjective
• quasi-extreme
  adjective
• superextreme
  adjective
• unextreme
  adjective
• superextremely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• extremes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of extreme

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Latin extrēmus “most outward,” superlative of exterus “outward”; see exterior

Explanation

Something extreme is far out, either in terms of distance or intensity. Extreme sports are wild or dangerous, and an extreme height is very high. When you talk about extreme things, you're talking about things that are very, very...something. An extreme point is the farthest distance from a place. Extreme eating is a type of contest — like hot dog-eating — in which people eat a freakish amount of food to compete with each other. An extreme biker is biking down dangerously steep mountain sides. Anything extreme is pushing the limits and taking things about as far as they can go.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

extreme extremes extremer extremest

Data centres were classified as critical in 2024, meaning they get extra government support during incidents like cyber-attacks or extreme weather.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

"The model of myopia we use in the tree shrew is fairly extreme," says corresponding author Richard Lang, PhD, director of research in the Division of Ophthalmology at Cincinnati Children's.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

A score above 1.0 indicates extreme market stress, while below -1.0, as seen currently, indicates lower stress.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

It comes amid an extreme heat warning in many parts of Southern California, including in the valleys of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, for “dangerously hot conditions” with high temperatures up to 110 degrees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Her reaction had been so extreme that we couldn’t help ourselves.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Studies show that when you put all three together, he noted, the extremes tend to soften.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

But protests in Vietnam have rarely, if ever, reached such fierce extremes.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

The challenge for brands is to acknowledge that development without endorsing the extremes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

As tai chi doesn’t push extremes, it may feel counterintuitive in Western culture; but that’s part of its power, Swanson says, likening tai chi to water.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Nevertheless, they both reached such extremes of virtuosity that when they became exhausted from excitement, they would take advantage of their fatigue.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

He seems also to have been, as some others of the extremer Puritans certainly were, pretty loose in his construction of moral laws.

From The English Novel by George Saintsbury

She had addressed the president, partly from his office, his comparatively extreme age—he must have been at least thirty!—and possibly for his extremer good looks.

From Openings in the Old Trail by Bret Harte

Mr Senior had seen its essential principle, the right of subsistence, worked out farther—to extremer and more dangerous consequences—than perhaps any other political or social experiment, before the practical common sense of England interfered.

From The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886 by Various

As the necessity for severity decreases, severity even in social disapproval must lessen; as the individual comes to yield more readily and promptly to a slight spur, extremer methods will be discarded.

From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams

It has as yet been practised by no poet at all approaching the first class, except Verlaine, and not by him in its extremer forms.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various

The printing press, praised by Martin Luther as “God’s highest and extremest act of Grace,” led to the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation — and a century of bloody religious wars.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 20, 2016

Now even the extremest obscenities have lost their power to shock.

From The Guardian ● May 23, 2013

The President-elect said he hoped the ceremony would be "one of the extremest in simplicity that we have ever had."

From Time Magazine Archive

“There will never be such a thing in my house,” said Wang Lung, in extremest horror.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

Systematically to ignore these relations is to act as I should act if I were an egoist in the extremest sense and held that there were no consciousness in the world except my own.

From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams

Related Words

• absolute
• dire
• drastic
• egregious
• exaggerated
• exceptional
• excessive
• extraordinary
• harsh
• irrational
• outrageous
• radical
• remarkable
• severe
• sheer
• unreasonable
• unusual
• utter