Meaning of extreme In English

• 0 very large in amount or degree:

  • extreme pain/stupidity/wealth

• 1 very severe or bad:

  • extreme weather conditions

  • In extreme cases, the disease can lead to blindness.

• 2 Extreme beliefs and political parties are considered by most people to be unreasonable and unacceptable:

  • He has rather extreme views.

  • He's on the extreme right wing of the party.

• 3 at the furthest point, especially from the centre:

  • They live in the extreme south of the island.

• 4 the largest possible amount or degree of something:

  • I've never witnessed such extremes of wealth and poverty.

  • Most people I know work fairly hard but she takes it to extremes.

  • Some of the scenes were unpleasant in the extreme.

  • My moods seem to go from one extreme to another (= my moods often change from very bad to very good).

• 5 very great; beyond what is usual or what might be expected:

  • Use extreme caution, as the steps are very slippery.

  • The extreme cold kept most people indoors.

• 6 at the furthest point; to the greatest degree:

  • At the extreme end of the lake there is a hunting lodge.

• 7 the first or fourth terms (= numbers or symbols) of a proportion (= a mathematical statement with a comparison of two numbers calculated by division on each side):

  • In the proportion a/b=t/z the terms a and z are the extremes.

• 8 the greatest possible amount or degree of something:

  • The security staff went to extremes to insure the safety of the world leaders.