extremity
/ɪkˈstrɛmɪti
/ /ɛkˈstrɛmɪti/noun (plural extremities)
1The furthest point or limit of something: the peninsula’s western extremity...
- At the western extremity of Florentine territory (in the outskirts of Pisa) was a historic Petrine site, the Romanesque church of San Piero a Grado.
- The town stands on a hill, and I was taken into the public garden at the extremity of the town.
- The North-East should be seen as a bridge to lands and opportunities beyond rather than as a cul-de-sac in a troublesome extremity of the country.
Synonyms
limit, end, edge, side, farthest point, boundary, border, frontier, boundary line, bound, bounding line, partition line, demarcation line, end point, cut-off point, termination;
perimeter, circumference, outside, outline, confine, periphery, outskirts, margin, brink, rim, lip, fringe, verge, threshold, compass
literary bourn, marge, skirt
rare ambit
1.1 (extremities) The hands and feet: tingling and numbness in the extremities...
- When prey arrives they quickly seize its extremities, pulling on legs, arms and antennae until the hostage is rendered immobile.
- It affects blood vessels in the extremities such as fingers and toes.
- The circulating nurse placed a sequential compression device on Mr V's left arm and lower extremities.
Synonyms
hands and feet, fingers and toes, limbs
2 [mass noun] The degree to which something is extreme: the extremity of the violence concerns us...
- I became alienated from everything that was going on around me - because of the violence and extremity of it.
- The case of Vancouver's mass-murder of sex trade workers was rare because of its extremity, but violence on the stroll is nothing new.
- The intensity and extremity of this expansion of experience is paralleled by the deepening of communion, by which particularity and individuation are shared with others.
Synonyms
intensity, high degree, magnitude, acuteness, ferocity, vehemence, fierceness, violence, severity, seriousness, strength, power, powerfulness, potency, vigour, force, forcefulness, gravity, graveness, severeness, grievousness
2.1A condition of extreme adversity: the terror of an animal in extremity...
- Yet the idea that some things should not be shown is persistent, and present even in extremity.
- If we intervene only in extremity, only in order to stop mass murder and mass deportation, the idea that we are defending X's norms and not Y's is simply wrong.
- In extremity, they rebelled and rioted with regularity and enthusiasm.
Synonyms
dire straits, trouble, difficulty, hard times, hardship, adversity, misfortune, distress;
crisis, emergency, disaster, catastrophe, calamity, cataclysm;
predicament, plight, mess, dilemma;
setback, reverse, reversal;
destitution, indigence, exigency
informal fix, pickle, jam, spot, bind, stew, scrape, hole, sticky situation, hot water, deep water, hell, hell on earth
British informal spot of bother
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French extremite or Latin extremitas, from extremus 'utmost' (see extreme).