ex-, e-, ef-

1. To draw or pull out, often with great force or effort: Tom's dentist had to extract his wisdom tooth.

Tim's mother had to use tweezers to extract a splinter from his thumb.

2. To get something despite a resistance: Jack finally extracted a promise from his sister not to tell their parents that he had thrown a ball through the window by mistake!
3. To obtain from a substance by chemical or mechanical action; as, by pressure, distillation, or evaporation: In biology class at school, the students learned that caffeine could be extracted from coffee beans by a process known as water processing.
4. To remove for separate consideration or publication; to excerpt: A hacker was able to extract and transfer important data from Rebecca’s computer to his own.
5. To derive or to obtain information from a source or to deduce a principle or doctrine; to construe a meaning: Susan was hoping to extract some useful background data from the internet to include in her article for the newspaper.
6. To derive pleasure from some source or situation: Bob extracted so much enjoyment from reading his new book that he wanted to get another one by the same author.
7. Etymology: borrowed from French extraction; from Latin extractionem from extractio; from the stem of Latin extrahere, "to pull out"; from ex-, "out" + trahere, "to pull".

1. The result of obtaining something from a source; usually, by separating it out from other material: There were a few snippets of extractions of information that Izack managed to believe from the political conversation that he heard on TV.
2. The act of copying or removing a passage from a text: Mildred was able to get certain extractions clarifying the life of the author from his memoirs.
3. The removal of a tooth or teeth: Sally had to go to the dentist to have a dental extraction performed because of a severe case of molar decay.

Extractions of one or more teeth may be performed when a tooth is severely decayed, when an abscess has formed, or when a tooth is too badly broken to be repaired by crowning or root-canal treatment.

4. In chemistry, the separation of a substance from a mixture by dissolving one or more of the components in a solvent: There are different types of extractions, one of which is decoction, which is the removal of water-soluable drug substances by boiling them in water.
5. The ethnic origin or the original nationality of someone's ancestors: Jane's husband was of Spanish extraction.

A reduction in the volume of natural gas due to the removal of liquid constituents; such as, ethane, propane, and butane at natural gas processing plants: Extraction loss can also be explained when the amount and energy content in natural gas is decreased as a result of the deduction or withdrawal of its components.

A steam turbine in which a portion of the working fluid is tapped between stages of an expansion process and used for purposes other than generating mechanical power: The extraction turbine has provided many rooms with heating because of the devices that allow the hot vapor to be utilized.

A commercial operation involved in exploring for non-renewable natural resources and removing them from the earth: Some examples of extractive industries that withdraw resources from nature are gas drilling, hunting, trapping, mining, and forestry; all of which are important parts of a country's economy.

1. A device which uses radial force to isolate parts or particles from a liquid: One type of extractor is the hematocrit, an apparatus which measures and determines the proportionate amounts of plasma and corpuscles in the blood.
2. A device that removes a liquid from an object: There are extractors that remove juice from fruit.

The process by which an individual, accused or suspected of criminal activities, is given over to another country for judicial proceedings or punishment: A famous speaker was challenging the extradition from his home country to a country which was known for illegal and harsh treatments of prisoners.

1. Highest in intensity or degree: Shirley has been able to withstand extreme pressures as a nurse.
2. Not reasonable; going far beyond what is reasonable, moderate, or normal: Aaron's son had an extreme reaction to the medication that was prescribed by his doctor.
3. Farthest out, especially from the center; most remote in any direction; outermost or farthest: Mark and his family made a trip to the extreme area north of the country.
4. Very strict or severe; of the greatest severity; drastic: While traveling by air, Jake experienced extreme and costly security measures.
5. A description of sports or leisure activities in which participants actively seek out dangerous or even life-threatening experiences.
6. Being in or attaining the greatest or highest degree of something that is very intense: Sometimes people have extreme pleasure or extreme pain.
7. Etymology: from Latin ex-, "out of"; extremus, "outermost, utmost"; superlative of exter, exterus, "on the outside, outward, external, foreign, strange".

A classification for a weather event that is very different from the "normal" range of weather that is experienced in a given geographical location: Some examples of extreme weather events include a flood, a drought, a tornado, a blizzard, an ice storm, a heat wave, a cold spell, etc.

An organism that lives in environmental conditions beyond normal conditions: There are microbes that thrive in situations that would kill other creatures, yet these extremophiles make their habitats in such forbidding environments as boiling or near freezing water, vinegar-like liquids, household ammonia, or in concentrated brine.

These microbes are called extremophiles because they thrive in environments that, from the human point of view, are clearly the farthest from normal situations and scientists have recognized that places once assumed to be sterile abound with a great deal of microbial life.