To Reach The Peak Of Something
To Perfect, To Reach The Extreme
transitive verb, ichidan verb
The kanji itself means extreme. The verb vocab version isn't "to extreme" because that wouldn't make sense. Instead, you bring something to extremes, making this to reach the peak of something, to perfect, or to reach the extreme.
極める commonly means reaching the highest level of proficiency or excellence in a particular skill, art, or field. It can also mean taking something to the extreme, like being crazy busy.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
When you go to reach the peak of something or to perfect something, you tend to go a little overboard, so there has to be a key word (きわ) that other people can say to remind you to calm down a little. “PINEAPPLE! PINEAPPLE!”
困難を極める
to go through extreme difficulties
多忙を極める
to be fully immersed in a hectic schedule
その道を極める
to become a true expert in that field
コウイチは漢字の道を極めるために、日本に行って漢字道場に通いました。
Koichi went to Japan to attend a kanji dojo to master the art of kanji.
私、チーズケーキは極めてるからさ。
I'm a master at cheesecake, you know.
日本語を極めるのは、生易しい事ではない。
It is no easy task to master the Japanese language.
天候が悪かったので、レスキュー作業は困難を極めました。
Due to the bad weather, the rescue operation became extremely challenging.
法律関係の職に就いて法律を極めることが夢でしたが、それよりも仕事で多忙を極めることになりました。
My dream was to enter the legal profession and master the law, but I've just become extremely busy with work.