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Formation: な-Adj stem + 極まる / 極まりない (e.g. 失礼極まる, 危険極まりない); before a noun: 危険極まりない + N; past: 極まりなかった

Attached to a な-adjective, 〜極まる and 〜極まりない both mean 'to the extreme'. Despite the ない, 極まりない is not a negative: it literally means 'knows no limit'. The pattern mostly goes with negative words such as 失礼, 無礼, 危険, 迷惑, 不愉快 and 退屈, and it usually carries the speaker's strong criticism or indignation. Positive uses such as 痛快極まりない exist but are less common. It is formal and typical of editorials, critical writing and stiff speech, and 極まりない is the more common form today. 感極まる is a fixed expression meaning 'be overcome with emotion'. 〜の極み and 〜の至り attach to nouns and often express positive feelings (感激の極み, 光栄の至り). 〜ったらない expresses a similar extreme but is colloquial.

Variants: 〜極まりない、〜極まりなかった、〜極まる、〜極まりなく

Examples

• 飲酒運転は危険極まりない行為だ。
  Drunk driving is an extremely dangerous act.
• 連絡もなく約束を破るとは、失礼極まる。
  Breaking a promise without a word is the height of rudeness.
• 店員の対応は不愉快極まりなかった。
  The way the staff treated us was utterly unpleasant.

In real texts 0 occurrence(s)

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