Word.ws English Dictionary

extreme

UK/ɪkˈstɹiːm//ɪkˈstɹim/

extreme adjective: of a place, the most remote, farthest or outermost.

Adjective

extreme (comparative extremer or more extreme, superlative extremest or most extreme)

  1. Of a place, the most remote, farthest or outermost.
    • At the extreme edges, the coating is very thin.
    Synonyms:
    farthest, furthest, most distant, outermost, remotest
    Antonyms:
    closest, nearest
  2. In the greatest or highest degree; intense.
    • He has an extreme aversion to needles, and avoids visiting the doctor.
    • And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
    Antonyms:
    least
  3. Excessive, or far beyond the norm.
    • His extreme love of model trains showed in the rails that criscrossed his entire home.
    • An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.2013 March, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, page 114
    Antonyms:
    moderate, reasonable
  4. Drastic, or of great severity.
    • I think the new laws are extreme, but many believe them necessary for national security.
    Synonyms:
    drastic, severe
    Antonyms:
    moderate, reasonable
  5. Of sports, difficult or dangerous; performed in a hazardous environment.
    • Television has begun to reflect the growing popularity of extreme sports such as bungee jumping and skateboarding.
    Synonyms:
    dangerous
  6. (archaic) Ultimate, final or last.
    • the extreme hour of life

Noun

extreme (plural extremes)

  1. The greatest or utmost point, degree, or condition.
    • Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.[…]But withal...1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
  2. Each of the things at opposite ends of a range or scale.
    • extremes of temperature
    • Most public discussion about heat extremes refers to risks faced by the general community. Yet even greater extremes of heat exposure do and will occur in many occupational settings, posing special risks to health, behavior, and work capacity.2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 56
    Synonyms:
    pole
  3. (obsolete, plural, plural-only) One of the last moments of life.
  4. A drastic expedient.
    • Some people go to extremes for attention on social media.
  5. (obsolete, plural, plural-only) Hardships, straits.
    • a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts,
      With ceaſeleſſe and diſconſolate conceits,
      Which dies my lookes so liueleſſe as they are,
      And might, if my extreames had ful euents,
      Make me the gaſtly counterfeit of death.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  6. Either of the two numbers at the ends of a proportion, as 1 and 6 in 1:2=3:6.

Adverb

extreme (comparative more extreme, superlative most extreme)

  1. (archaic) Extremely.
    • In the empty and extreme cold theatre.1796, Charles Burney, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Metastasio, section 2.5

extreme meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

extreme in Hindi

extreme, exceeding
निहायत nihāyat
extreme
कमाल kamāl
extreme, serious, severe, grave
संगीन saṅgīn

extreme in Tamil

இறுதி, உச்ச அளவான, உச்ச அளவு, கடைகோடி, மட்டிலாத, மீக்கடுமையான

extreme in Marathi

extreme, excessive
प्रचंड pracaṇḍa

extreme in Urdu

extreme
اشد ašad, انتہا intihā, کمال kamāl
the extreme, extremity, end, limit
نہایت nihāyat
extreme, utmost, excessive
انتہائی intihāī
an extreme
اقصی نقطہ aqsā nuqta
More languagesFewer languages
extreme in Bengali
চরম corom, হদ্দ hoddo, পরমানন্দ pôrômanôndo
extreme in Telugu
గాఢము gāḍhamu, విపరీత viparīta
extreme in Malayalam
കടു kaṭu, കൂർ kūṟ
extreme in Kannada
ಕೊನೆ, ತುದಿ, ಕಡೆ, ವೈಪರೀತ್ಯ
extreme in Punjabi
ਅਤਿਅੰਤ
extreme in Gujarati
આત્યંતિક
extreme in Odia
ଚରମ
extreme in Nepali
प्रचंड pracaṇḍa
extreme in Tagalog
matindi, sukdulan
extreme in Arabic
الْأُقْصَى al-ʔuqṣā, الْأَبْعَد al-ʔabʕad, شَدِيد šadīd, غَيْر اِعْتِيَادِيّ ḡayr iʕtiyādiyy
extreme in Malay
ekstrem
extreme in Indonesian
ekstrem
extreme in Thai
สุดโต่ง sùt-dtòong
extreme in Vietnamese
điểm cực, cực đại, cực độ, cực đoan

Examples of extreme in a sentence

  • Astute businessman though he was, my brother was capable of extreme recklessness.
  • A hardy plant is one that can withstand the extremes of climate, such as frost.
  • The extreme humidity decayed the wooden sculptures in the museum's collection in a matter of years.

All 40 example sentences with extreme

Synonyms of extreme

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of extreme

Forms of extreme

Adjective
comparativeextremer
comparativemore extreme
superlativeextremest
superlativemost extreme
alternative form (obsolete)extream
alternative form (obsolete)extreame
alternative form (nonstandard, informal)xtreme
Noun
pluralextremes
Adverb
comparativemore extreme
superlativemost extreme

Plural of extreme: extremes

Origin of extreme

Borrowed into late Middle English from Old French extreme, from Latin extrēmus, the superlative of exter.

Words formed from extreme

Phrases with extreme

Words that rhyme with extreme

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about extreme

What does extreme mean?
Extreme means of a place, the most remote, farthest or outermost.
What is extreme in Hindi?
Extreme in Hindi is निहायत (nihāyat), कमाल (kamāl), संगीन (saṅgīn). See Extreme meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is extreme?
Extreme can be an adjective, a noun or an adverb.
How do you pronounce extreme?
Extreme is pronounced /ɪkˈstɹiːm/ (UK).

Words near extreme in the dictionary

  1. extremalising
  2. extremalities
  3. extremality
  4. extremally
  5. extremals
  6. extreme
  7. extreme carving
  8. extreme day trip
  9. extreme day trips
  10. extreme energy
  11. extreme ironing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: extreme (page history and authors); कमाल (Hindi) (page history and authors); extreme (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); प्रचंड (Marathi) (page history and authors); اشد (Urdu) (page history and authors); চরম (Bengali) (page history and authors); గాఢము (Telugu) (page history and authors); കടു (Malayalam) (page history and authors); extreme (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); extreme (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); extreme (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); extreme (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); प्रचंड (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-extreme.ogg.

Cite this entry: “extreme.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/extreme. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.