Extreme, a.
Etymology: [L. extremus, superl. of exter, extrus, on the outside, outward: cf. F. extrême. See Exterior.]
1. At the utmost point, edge, or border; outermost; utmost; farthest; most remote; at the widest limit.
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.
3 more senses
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.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Extreme, n.
1. The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a body; extremity.
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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for extreme; he lists it under radical.
Where he writes about it:
The widely divergent senses in which the word radical is used, by which it can be at some time interchanged with any word in the above list, are all formed upon the one primary sense of having to do with or proceeding from the root (L. radix); a radical difference is one that springs from the root, and is thus constitutional, essential, fundamental, organic, original; a radical change is one that does not stop at the surface, but reaches down to the very root, and is entire, thorough, total; since the majority find superficial treatment of any matter the easiest and most comfortable, radical measures, which strike at the root of evil or need, are apt to be looked upon as extreme. — from radical