Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

in extremis

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English

Syllables: in- ex-trem-is
IPA

19

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

prep_phrase

At the point of death.

prep_phrase

In desperate circumstances.

Example Sentences

"Military records describing the deaths of men as a result of injuries sustained during combat employed the phrase in a (now near-obsolete) sense to describe a man on the verge of dying: […] 'He was in extremis when seen and died about 2 hours after the action ceased at 9 pm'."
"The purpose, of course, was to find out if the prisoner, in extremis, broke down and wrote to a family in Israel."
"This book sets out to look at what we have termed 'social work in extremis'. It is an attempt to bring together a number of case studies that look at social work responses in 'extreme' or crisis situations."
"There was a reason we would call up the Reserves only in extremis."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin in extrēmīs.

Phrases

dire straits

Frequently Paired Words

dire straits

Questions

What does in extremis mean?: At the point of death.
Where does in extremis come from?: Borrowed from Latin in extrēmīs.

How to pronounce in extremis

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