extreme

extreme adj exorbitant, inordinate, *excessive, immoderate, extravagant

extreme n Extreme, extremity are comparable when they mean the utmost limit or degree of something.

Extreme usually applies to either of two limits which are diametrically opposed or are as far removed from each other as possible

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a climate where extremes of heat and cold are unknown

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{

twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief— Shak.

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{

my tendency is to unite extremes rather than to go between them— Ellis

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{

he aroused extremes of admiration and hostility— Robert Lawrence

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The term may, however, when used with a verb of motion or one suggesting movement, imply a definite direction and therefore denote the utmost limit or degree in that direction

{

he is always dressed in the extreme of fashion

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{

carried their enthusiasm to extremes

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Extremity, on the other hand, usually implies the utmost removal from what is reasonable, sane, safe, tolerable, or endurable

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the extremity of their opinions

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{

an extremity of caution— H. G. Wells

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{

an extremity of suffering

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Often the term applies concretely to the state or condition of one in extreme pain, grief, anxiety, suffering, or poverty

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the queen's in labor, they say, in great extremity— Shak.

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{

those ... who succor heroic minds in their worst extremities— L. P. Smith

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Analogous words: antithesis, antipode, contrary (see under OPPOSITE adj)