extreme: [15] Etymologically, extreme is the latinate equivalent of the native English utmost. It comes via Old French extreme from Latin extrēmus ‘farthest, last, excessive’, which began life as a superlative form based on Latin ex ‘out’ – hence originally ‘most out, utmost’. The underlying notion of ‘furthest outlying’ still survives in, for example, the use of extremities for the ‘hands’ or ‘feet’.
extreme (adj.)
early 15c., "outermost, farthest;" also "utter, total, in greatest degree" (opposed to moderate), from Old French extreme (13c.), from Latin extremus "outermost, utmost, farthest, last; the last part; extremity, boundary; highest or greatest degree," superlative of exterus (see exterior). In English as in Latin, not always felt as a superlative, hence more extreme, most extreme (which were condemned by Johnson). Extreme unction preserves the otherwise extinct sense of "last, latest" (15c.).
extreme (n.)
1540s, "utmost point of a thing," from extreme (adj.); originally of the end of life (compare Latin in extremis in reference to the "last stages of life"). Phrase in the extreme "in an extreme degree" attested from c. 1600. Hence extremes "extremities, opposite ends of anything" (1550s); also "extreme measures" (1709).
雙語例句
1. The extreme right reared its ugly head in the 1980s.
極右勢力在20世紀80年代有所抬頭。
來自柯林斯例句
2. It is hard to imagine Lineker capable of anything so extreme.
很難想象萊恩克爾能做出如此極端的事情。
來自柯林斯例句
3. In her extreme youth, Maria had sold her sexual favours for money.
瑪麗亞在非常年輕的時候，曾靠賣淫來賺錢。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The far right is now a greater threat than the extreme left.
現在極右派比極左派威脅更大。
來自柯林斯例句
5. They gathered to protest against the renaissance of the extreme right.