in extremis

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English

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Etymology

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From Latin in extremis.

Prepositional phrase

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in extremis

  1. At the point of death.
    • 2018 December 13, Edmund Richardson, Classics in Extremis: The Edges of Classical Reception, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 116:
      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'.
  2. (by extension) In desperate circumstances.
    • 2001 [1990], Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 410:
      The purpose, of course, was to find out if the prisoner, in extremis, broke down and wrote to a family in Israel.
    • 2011, Michael Lavalette, Vasilios Ioakimidis, Social Work in Extremis: Lessons for Social Work Internationally, Policy Press, →ISBN, page 1:
      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.
    • 2016 February 9, Christopher Holshek, Travels with Harley: Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity, Inkshares, →ISBN:
      There was a reason we would call up the Reserves only in extremis.

Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from Latin in extrēmīs (literally in extremes).

Adverb

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in extremis

  1. in extremis
    • 2020 September 27, Federico Rampini, “Stati Uniti, affondi, invettive, colpi da ko: così Trump e Biden preparano il duello tv che vale l'elezione [United States, attacks, invective, knockout blows: this is how Trump and Biden are preparing the TV duel that is worth the election]”, in la Repubblica[1]:
      È comunque il presidente in carica che deve fare una rimonta in extremis.
      However, it is the president in office who must make a comeback in extremis.
  2. at the last moment