from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Extreme \Ex*treme"\, n.
1. The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a
body; extremity.
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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.
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His parsimony went to the extreme of meanness.
--Bancroft.
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3. An extreme state or condition; hence, calamity, danger,
distress, etc. "Resolute in most extremes." --Shak.
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4. (Logic) Either of the extreme terms of a syllogism, the
middle term being interposed between them.
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5. (Math.) The first or the last term of a proportion or
series.
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{In the extreme} as much as possible. "The position of the
Port was difficult in the extreme." --J. P. Peters.
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