ultra

Etymology

From Latin ultra.

adj

1. Extreme; far beyond the norm; fanatical; uncompromising.
   an ultra reformer; ultra measures

noun

1. An ultraroyalist in France.
   "At any rate that is what he explained to me," I said hastily while the lawyer rubbed his long ultra's nose and sighed. 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 37
2. An extremist, especially an ultranationalist.
   Five militants were nabbed while four ultras of Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) gave themselves up. 29 Dec 2005, “Foreign ultra killed, three injured in J&K”, in The Times of India, retrieved 2009-04-21
3. (soccer) An especially devoted football fan, typically associated with the intimidating use of extremist slogans, pyrotechnics and sometimes hooligan violence.
   A similar view is expressed by a Turin supporter in Segre's study, but in this case it is more specifically addressed to how powerful teams, such as Juventus, get preferential treatment in reports on the negative aspects of the ultras world. 2012, ALINA BERNSTEIN, Neil Blain, Sport, Media, Culture: Global and Local Dimensions, Routledge, page 183
   If a member of an official football club can be said to be a citizen of the football world, an ultra has to be considered as a militant. 2013, Richard Guilianotti, Football, Violence and Social Identity, Routledge, page 77
   Although the intention initially was to distribute tickets and arrange travel to away matches, ultras quickly became actively organised and developed an overtly passionate cultural and political identity inside each curva 2015, Jamie Cleland, A Sociology of Football in a Global Context, Routledge, page 30
4. (athletics) An ultramarathon.
   I've done more than forty marathons and ultras and have won a handful of small boutiquey races in mountainous, out-of-the-way places: the foothills of the Sierra Nevada; Mount Mitchell, North Carolina; Bozeman, Montana; and, on the third day of a 100-mile stage race, the Mount Everest Challenge Marathon in the Himalayas. 2008, Rachel Toor, Personal Record: A Love Affair with Running, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, page 69
5. (climbing) An ultra-prominent peak.
   Blanca Peak is one of just three ultra-prominence peaks, or “ultras,” in the state and the highpoint of the Sierra Blanca Range, a massif that includes ranked 14ers Ellingwood Point, Little Bear Peak, and Mount Lindsey. 2008, Susan Joy Paul, Climbing Colorado's Mountains, Guilford, CT: Rowman & Littlefield, page 141
6. (usually capitalised) Code name used by British codebreakers during World War 2 for decrypted information gained from the enemy.