extremity
/ɪkˈstɹɛməti/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.00 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
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."
- "Reference was made in the January-February issue to some of the optimistic railway titles of the past, such as the Manchester & Milford, and the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast, neither of which got anywhere near the extremities indicated in their titles during their independent existence."
- "Sitting on the dockside at Oban, watching the to-ing and fro-ing in the harbour on a perfect summer's eve, I reflect on a trip which has taken me through our busiest cities to traverse the country's main lines, as well as explore some of the furthest extremities that were literally out on a limb."
- "The Fort on the Mount St. Catherine after a Month's Siege was reduc'd to ſuch Extremitys, that they who defended it were forc'd to treat about a Surrender: and Aug. 29. 'twas agreed between the Engliſh Commiſſioners, Edward Earl of Mortaigne, Thomas Earl of Salisbury, and Fitz-Hugh, and the French Commiſſioners, the Sieur Nobles Lieutenant of Guy de Bouteil, which the Sieurs De Buſſon and de Graville, in the Name of the Gariſon, that they would deliver up the Abby and Fortreſs of St. Catherine on the Thurſday following, on condition of having only their Lives ſpar'd."
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)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪkˈstɹɛməti/
- British English: /ɪkˈstɹɛmɪti/