D defs.my
Entry 10 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Extreme

/ĕk-strēm'/ · Ex·treme · IPA /ɪkˈstɹim/
01 a. At the utmost point, edge, or border; outermost; utmost; farthest; most remote; at the widest limit.
  1. 1.
    At the utmost point, edge, or border; outermost; utmost; farthest; most remote; at the widest limit.
  2. 2.
    Last; final; conclusive; -- said of time; as, the extreme hour of life.
  3. 3.
    The best of worst; most urgent; greatest; highest; immoderate; excessive; most violent; as, an extreme case; extreme folly.
    “Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire.” Shak.
  4. 4.
    Radical; ultra; as, extreme opinions.
    “The Puritans or extreme Protestants.” Gladstone.
  5. 5.
    Extended or contracted as much as possible; -- said of intervals; as, an extreme sharp second; an extreme flat forth.(Mus.)
Phrases & compounds
Extreme and mean ratio — 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 — See Distance, n., 6.
Extreme unction — See under Unction.
02 n. The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a body; extremity.
  1. 1.
    The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a body; extremity.
  2. 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. 3.
    An extreme state or condition; hence, calamity, danger, distress, etc.
  4. 4.
    Either of the extreme terms of a syllogism, the middle term being interposed between them.(Logic)
  5. 5.
    The first or the last term of a proportion or series.(Math.)
Phrases & compounds
In the extreme — as much as possible.