extremity

Definition

The most extreme or furthest point of something.

Etymology

From Middle English extremite, from Old French extremité, from Latin extrēmitātem (“extremity; border, perimeter; ending”), from extrēmīs (“furthest, extreme”) + -itās (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being); see extreme. Extrēmīs is derived from exter (“external, outward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + -issimus (superlative suffix) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-is- (comparative suffix) + *-(t)m̥mo- (absolutive case suffix)).

Example Sentences

• "[B]eſtowe your love on him, who, were it not to do you ſervice, would through the extremitie of love rather wiſh to die then live."
• "Any ſphere revolving as on an axis, muſt have two points on its ſurface at the extremities of its axis, that do not revolve at all; theſe points, with reſpect to the Earth, are called its poles."
• "Scrooge said that he would see him—yes, indeed he did. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity [i.e., hell] first."

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