(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Extreme means very great in degree or intensity.
The girls were afraid of snakes and picked their way along with ~ caution.
...people living in ~ poverty.
...the author’s ~ reluctance to generalise.
= great
ADJ: usu ADJ n
2.
You use ~ to describe situations and behaviour which are much more severe or unusual than you would expect, especially when you disapprove of them because of this.
The ~ case was Poland, where 29 parties won seats...
It is hard to imagine Lineker capable of anything so ~...
ADJ disapproval
3.
You use ~ to describe opinions, beliefs, or political movements which you disapprove of because they are very different from those that most people would accept as reasonable or normal.
This ~ view hasn’t captured popular opinion.
...the racist politics of the ~ right.
? moderate
ADJ: usu ADJ n disapproval
4.
You can use ~s to refer to situations or types of behaviour that have opposite qualities to each other, especially when each situation or type of behaviour has such a quality to the greatest degree possible.
...a ‘middle way’ between the ~s of success and failure...
They can withstand ~s of temperature and weather without fading or cracking.
N-COUNT: usu pl, oft N of n
5.
The ~ end or edge of something is its furthest end or edge.
...the room at the ~ end of the corridor.
...winds from the ~ north.
= far
ADJ: ADJ n
6.
If a person goes to ~s or takes something to ~s, they do or say something in a way that people consider to be unacceptable, unreasonable, or foolish.
The police went to the ~s of installing the most advanced safety devices in the man’s house...
The doctor told me not to mention dieting to her in case she took it to the ~...
PHRASE: V and N inflect
7.
You use in the ~ after an adjective in order to emphasize what you are saying, especially when you want to indicate that it is something which is undesirable or very surprising. (FORMAL)
It is proving controversial in the ~...
PHRASE: adj PHR emphasis