extrême

Extrême is a French adjective and, less commonly, a noun that denotes the outermost limit or the highest degree of something. It is used to describe intensity, extent, or extremity in physical properties (for example, chaleur extrême, froid extrême), conditions (conditions extrêmes), and abstract qualities (danger extrême, opinion extrême). The word can introduce nouns directly (une chaleur extrême) or follow the noun to add emphasis, depending on context and emphasis.

As a noun, l'extrême can refer to the extreme end or limit in a range or on a spectrum. The plural extrêmes often appears in discussions of borders or ranges, such as les extrêmes du spectre. The phrase l'extrême peut aussi stand for the farthest point in a given context, and it is common in political or social discourse to speak of ses extrêmes.

Etymology traces extrême back to Latin extremus, via Old French extrême. It shares a common root with the English word extreme. The term remains closely tied to notions of limit and boundary across Romance languages, and it appears in many idiomatic expressions in French.

Usage notes: aller à l'extrême means to go to the extreme or to take something to an extreme level. In politics, extrême is frequently paired with gauche or droite to denote far-left or far-right positions, sometimes carrying negative or cautionary connotations depending on the context. In everyday language, it forms compounds like sports extrêmes to describe extreme sports. In mathematics and related fields, the idea of extremes translates as valeurs extrêmes or extrêmes for the maximum or minimum values within a domain.

See also: extreme values in mathematics; extrême gauche, extrême droite; extrêmement as the adverb meaning extremely.