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.
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}.
Note: 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.