in the extreme

2 definitions found

in the extreme - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Extreme \Ex*treme"\, n.
     1. The utmost point or verge; that part which terminates a
        body; extremity.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His parsimony went to the extreme of meanness.
                                                    --Bancroft.
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     3. An extreme state or condition; hence, calamity, danger,
        distress, etc. "Resolute in most extremes." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Logic) Either of the extreme terms of a syllogism, the
        middle term being interposed between them.
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     5. (Math.) The first or the last term of a proportion or
        series.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     In the extreme as much as possible. "The position of the
        Port was difficult in the extreme." --J. P. Peters.
        [1913 Webster]

in the extreme - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  in the extreme
   adj.
  
     A preferred superlative suffix for many hackish terms. See, for
     example, obscure in the extreme under obscure, and compare
  highly.