EXTREMITY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Extremity

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/ɛkstrˈɛməti/ Listen

noun

Extremity n. (pl. extremities)

The extreme part; the utmost limit; the farthest or remotest point or part; as, the extremities of a country. "They sent fleets... to the extremities of Ethiopia."

(Zoöl.) One of locomotive appendages of an animal; a limb; a leg or an arm of man.

The utmost point; highest degree; most aggravated or intense form. "The extremity of bodily pain."

The highest degree of inconvenience, pain, or suffering; greatest need or peril; extreme need; necessity. "Divers evils and extremities that follow upon such a compulsion shall here be set in view." "Upon mere extremity he summoned this last Parliament."

Synonyms: Verge; border; extreme; end; termination.

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Etymology of 'Extremity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Extremity" Quotes from Famous Books

... Collot declined to give Robespierre the tribune. The din arose; shouts of "Down with the tyrant, down with the dictator," were raised. Tallien demanded a decree of accusation. Members pressed around the Jacobin leader, who at this last extremity tried to force his way to the tribune. But the way was barred; he could only clutch the railings, and, asking for death, looking in despair at the public galleries that had so long shouted their Jacobin ...

— The French Revolution - A Short History • R. M. Johnston

... thy land. Murderers and felons may have sanctuary, And shall not honourable maids distress'd, Religious virgins, holy nuns profess'd, Have that small privilege? Now, out upon thee, out! Holy Saint Catherine, shield my virginity! I never stood in such extremity. ...

— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) • Various

... the niches of the Pantheon. In consequence of the fires of former generations, the marble has here and there a tinge of red on the surface. In the Church of St. John Lateran there is a splendid pair of fluted columns of giallo antico, which support the entablature over a portal at the northern extremity of the transept. They are thirty feet in height and nine feet in circumference, and were found in Trajan's Forum. In the Arch of Constantine are several magnificent giallo antico columns and pilasters, which are ...

— Roman Mosaics - Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood • Hugh Macmillan

... asked Natalie, as her lover made straight for a closed door at the lower extremity ...

— Miss or Mrs.? • Wilkie Collins

... and screamed its notes of passion in the desert, seemed to be beating in Max's brain. A horrible irritation possessed him like a devil. He could have yelled as a man might yell in the extremity of physical torture. If only that ...

— A Soldier of the Legion • C. N. Williamson

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