Ex*treme" (?), a. [L. extremus,
superl. of exter, extrus, on the outside, outward: cf.
F. extrême. See Exterior.] 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. (Mus.) 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.
&fist; Although this adjective, being superlative in
signification, is not properly subject to comparison, the superlative
form not unfrequently occurs, especially in the older writers. "Tried
in his extremest state." Spenser. "Extremest
hardships." Sharp. "Extremest of evils." Bacon.
"Extremest verge of the swift brook." Shak. "The sea's
extremest borders." Addison.
Ex*treme", 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. (Logic) Either of the extreme terms
of a syllogism, the middle term being interposed between
them.
5. (Math.) 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.
