enormity
Plural: enormities
Noun
- A grave offense against decency or morality; extreme wickedness.
- the quality of being outrageous
- vastness of size or extent
- "in careful usage the noun enormity is not used to express the idea of great size"
- "universities recognized the enormity of their task"
- the quality of extreme wickedness
- an act of extreme wickedness
- Deviation from what is normal or standard; irregularity, abnormality.
- Deviation from moral normality; extreme wickedness, nefariousness, or cruelty.
- A breach of law or morality; a transgression, an act of evil or wickedness.
- Great size; enormousness, hugeness, immenseness.
Examples
- Not until the war ended and journalists were able to enter Cambodia did the world really become aware of the enormity of Pol Pot’s oppression.
- The enormity of his opponent’s seven-letter play felt almost unfair.
Origin / Etymology
From Late Middle English ēnorme (“monstrous or unnatural act; enormity”), from Old French énormité (“enormity”), from Latin ēnormitās (“irregularity; enormity”), from ēnōrmis (“irregular, unusual; enormous, immense”) + -itās (suffix forming nouns indicating states of being). Ēnōrmis is derived from e- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘out; away’) + nōrma (“norm, standard”) + -is (Latin suffix forming adjectives from nouns).
Synonyms
outrageousness, anomalousness, atrociousness, bigness, bulk, depravity, desecration, ginormity, immensity, immorality, largeness, magnitude, oddness, prodigiousness, scale, size, strangeness, villainy, violation, weirdness
Scrabble Score: 13
enormity: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordenormity: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
enormity: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary