This paper argues that degree modifiers such as flat-out, downright, positively, and straight-up constitute a distinct natural class specialized for modifying extreme adjectives (such as gigantic, fantastic, or gorgeous), and that extreme adjectives themselves come in two varieties: ones that encode extremeness as part of their lexical meaning and ones that can acquire it on the basis of contextual factors. These facts suggest that a theory is required of adjectival 'extremeness' itself. I propose one, based on the idea that in any given context, we restrict our attention to a particular salient portion of a scale. To reflect this, I suggest that quantification over degrees is-like quantification in other domains-contextually restricted. Extreme adjectives and corresponding degree modifiers can thus both be understood as a means of expressing domain-widening for degrees.