Extreme

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a body; extremity.

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. An extreme state or condition; hence, calamity, danger, distress, etc. "Resolute in most extremes." Shak.

4. Either of the extreme terms of a syllogism, the middle term being interposed between them.

5. The first or the last term of a proportion or series. In the extreme as much as possible. "The position of the Port was difficult in the extreme." J. P. Peters.

Part of speech: adjective (a.)

1. At the utmost point, edge, or border; outermost; utmost; farthest; most remote; at the widest limit.

2. Last; final; conclusive; -- said of time; as, the extreme hour of life.

3. The best of worst; most urgent; greatest; highest; immoderate; excessive; most violent; as, an extreme case; extreme folly. "The extremest remedy." Dryden. "Extreme rapidity." Sir W. Scott. Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire. Shak.

4. Radical; ultra; as, extreme opinions. The Puritans or extreme Protestants. Gladstone.

5. Extended or contracted as much as possible; -- said of intervals; as, an extreme sharp second; an extreme flat forth. Extreme and mean ratio (Geom.), 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. (Paint.) See Distance., n., 6. -- Extreme unction. See under Unction.