extreme
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
In the greatest or highest degree.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehkstreemSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛkstˈɹim
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
In the greatest or highest degree; intense.
Drastic, or of great severity.
Excessive, or far beyond the norm.
Of sports, difficult or dangerous; performed in a hazardous environment.
Of a place, the most remote, farthest or outermost.
noun
The greatest or utmost point, degree, or condition.
Each of the things at opposite ends of a range or scale.
A drastic expedient.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In the greatest or highest degree; intense.
Used this way, extreme is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person who holds extreme views.
An external body part that projects from the body.
Any political theory favoring immoderate uncompromising policies.
To a high degree or extent.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Below 3 kilohertz.
30 to 300 gigahertz.
A Catholic sacrament.
An extreme conservative.
The point located farthest from the middle of something.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.