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extrema ratio. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
extrema ratio, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
extrema ratio in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin extrēma ratiō, a variant of ultima ratiō, from the phrase ultima ratiō rēgum (“last resort of the kings”) that King Louis XIV of France had inscribed on the cannons made in 1650, and the similar one, ultima ratiō rēgis (“last resort of the king”), put by King Frederick II of Prussia on cannons after 1742, both almost certainly inspired by Spanish dramatist, poet, and writer Pedro Calderón de la Barca, who, in one of his works of comedy, defined artillery as ultima razón de Reyes (“last resort of kings”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ekˈstrɛ.ma ˈrat.t͡sjo/
- Rhymes: -attsjo
- Hyphenation: ex‧trè‧ma‧rà‧tio
Noun
extrema ratio f (invariable)
- last resort
- Synonyms: (uncommon) ultima ratio, ultima spiaggia
1859, “Memorie originali”, in Lo sperimentale, ovvero Giornale critico di medicina e chirurgia per servire ai bisogni dell'arte salutare - Anno XI. - Serie quarta. - Tomo IV., Florence, page 108:Essendo quì l’operazione Cesarea considerata come l’extrema ratio, un pis aller […]- Being the Caesarean operation considered as the last resort here, a pis aller
Further reading
- extrema ratio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana