in the extreme

prepositional phrase

To a very great or excessive degree.

“It was rude in the extreme to act the way he did at the funeral.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. To a very great or excessive degree.

    It was rude in the extreme to act the way he did at the funeral.

    2 more examples

    The surroundings become bleak in the extreme as the timber line is approached and trees give place to thinly scattered birches that are little more than bushes.

    1957 August 28, H. A. Vallance, “By Rail to the Norwegian Arctic”, in Railway Magazine, page 574

    But after so many questions and criticism, it would be churlish in the extreme to not give great credit after the manner of England's performance here.

    2024 November 14, Phil McNulty, “'A night of redemption for Carsley offers real hope for Tuchel'”, in BBC Sport
Cite this entry
APA

in the extreme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20extreme

MLA

“in the extreme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20extreme. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the extreme,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20extreme.

Source: in the extreme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.