Literary notes about extremely (AI summary)
In literature, "extremely" is commonly used as an intensifier that heightens adjectives, adverbs, and even verbs to convey a sense of utmost degree or emphasis. Authors employ the word to vividly accentuate physical descriptions, emotional states, actions, or environmental conditions. For instance, characters are portrayed with enhanced traits—being "extremely graceful" ([1]) or "extremely touching" ([2])—while settings and situations are similarly amplified, such as an "extremely dark" night ([3]) or an "extremely comfortable" cabin ([4]). Even in scientific or historical contexts, the adverb sharpens the impact of the narrative, as when evolution is described as occurring in an "extremely gradual" manner ([5]) or air conditions as "extremely mutable" ([6]). This versatile intensifier thus serves to enrich the text by adding layers of precision and emotional force.
- She was a brunette, very thin, very slender, supple, elegant, and extremely graceful, with refined and exceedingly noble features.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - “It’s extremely touching to see him sit on his horse.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - It was extremely dark, this passage, after the blinding sunlight reflected from the sulphurous ground.
— from The island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells - He took us to a room which was extremely comfortable, considering it was only a cabin, and after doing the honours left us to ourselves.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - That many species have been evolved in an extremely gradual manner, there can hardly be a doubt.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Public opinion is an extremely mutable thing.
— from An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
