extreme
Americanadjective
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of a character or kind farthest removed from the ordinary or average.
extreme measures.
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utmost or exceedingly great in degree.
extreme joy.
- Synonyms:
- superlative
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farthest from the center or middle; outermost; endmost.
the extreme limits of a town.
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farthest, utmost, or very far in any direction.
an object at the extreme point of vision.
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exceeding the bounds of moderation.
extreme fashions.
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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
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last or final.
extreme hopes.
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Chiefly Sports. very dangerous or difficult.
extreme skiing.
noun
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extremes
plural
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the utmost or highest degree, or a very high degree.
cautious to an extreme.
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one of two things as remote or different from each other as possible.
the extremes of joy and grief.
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the furthest or utmost length; an excessive length, beyond the ordinary or average.
extremes in dress.
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an extreme act, measure, condition, etc..
the extreme of poverty.
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Mathematics.
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the first or the last term, as of a proportion or series.
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a relative maximum or relative minimum value of a function in a given region.
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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.
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Archaic. the utmost point, or extremity, of something.
adjective
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being of a high or of the highest degree or intensity
extreme cold
extreme difficulty
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exceeding what is usual or reasonable; immoderate
extreme behaviour
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very strict, rigid, or severe; drastic
an extreme measure
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(prenominal) farthest or outermost in direction
the extreme boundary
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meteorol of, relating to, or characteristic of a continental climate
noun
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the highest or furthest degree (often in the phrases in the extreme, go to extremes )
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(often plural) either of the two limits or ends of a scale or range of possibilities
extremes of temperature
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maths
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the first or last term of a series or a proportion
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a maximum or minimum value of a function
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logic the subject or predicate of the conclusion of a syllogism
Synonym Usage
See radical.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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extremenessnoun
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superextremenessnoun
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overextremeadjective
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quasi-extremeadjective
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superextremeadjective
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unextremeadjective
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superextremelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing extreme
Lesson 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But a subset of early-stage founders is embracing an ethos derived from an extreme reliance on AI: Stay small for as long as possible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
There have always been overeager people who, through either extreme wishful thinking or some quirk of brain chemistry, have come to believe that science fiction hides secret messages or covers up for real events.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
The southern gentoo, which is thriving in Antarctica, carries genetic changes associated with life in extreme polar conditions.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
It wasn't that long ago people were shouting for a statue for him, so I don't think you can go from one extreme to the other.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
My look or something else must have struck her as offensive, for she spoke with extreme though suppressed irritation.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Investors seem to be locked in a wrestling match over these extremes, contributing to big swings in bonds last week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
The nearly weeklong event takes place on a sun-blasted, nearly six-square-mile patch of a 200-mile Pleistocene-era lakebed in Nevada, and is a place of extremes, with very cold nights and hot days.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Such weather extremes may have caused queens to abandon their nests or die, reducing the initial spring queen bounty to a more modest population.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
"The implications for people are immense because El Nino is a major source of climate extremes and hazards."
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
No suggestion that he had wasted yet another night risking his life for an ungrateful foreigner who would never be able to repay him—the Aerodrome Drop-Off Principle taken to extremes.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
He was like his father, the old laird, but there glowed an extremer dark anger and power.
From Foes by Mary Johnston
O hapless race! what still extremer woe Doth Fortune doom the living to bemoan?
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Edward Fairfax Taylor
A sharp check from the public authority generally brings out to the front this extremer element in German socialism.
From Contemporary Socialism by John Rae
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
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
Where lesser Fitness for survival on another's part had been signal for making such her prey, now Unfitness in the extremest degree claims her devotion and care.
From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Arabella Kenealy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
