Word of the Day for Sunday, January 15, 2012
outrance \oo-TRAHNS\, noun:
The utmost extremity.
"Its prevailing features are equability, ease, perfect accuracy and purity of style, a manner never at outrance with the subject matter, pathos, and verisimilitude."
-- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Linwoods"
I pretend not to be a champion of that same naked virtue called truth, to the very outrance. I can consent that her charms be hidden with a veil, were it but for decency's sake.
-- Sir Walter Scott, "Kenilworth"
Outrance came from the Old French word oltrance meaning "to pass beyond." It is probably related to outrage.
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