enormity

e·nor·mi·ty  (-nôrm-t)

n. pl. e·nor·mi·ties

1. The quality of passing all moral bounds; excessive wickedness or outrageousness.

2. A monstrous offense or evil; an outrage.

3. Usage Problem Great size; immensity: "Beyond that, [Russia's] sheer enormity offered a defense against invaders that no European nation enjoyed" (W. Bruce Lincoln).

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[French énormité, from Old French, from Latin normits, from normis, unusual, enormous; see enormous.]

Usage Note: Enormity is frequently used to refer simply to the property of being great in size or extent, but many would prefer that enormousness (or a synonym such as immensity) be used for this general sense and that enormity be limited to situations that demand a negative moral judgment, as in 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. Fifty-nine percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of enormity as a synonym for immensity in the sentence At that point the engineers sat down to design an entirely new viaduct, apparently undaunted by the enormity of their task. This distinction between enormity and enormousness has not always existed historically, but nowadays many observe it. Writers who ignore the distinction, as in the enormity of the President's election victory or the enormity of her inheritance, may find that their words have cast unintended aspersions or evoked unexpected laughter.

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enormity [ɪˈnɔːmɪtɪ]

n pl -ties

1. the quality or character of being outrageous; extreme wickedness

2. an act of great wickedness; atrocity

3. Informal vastness of size or extent

[from Old French enormite, from Late Latin ēnormitās hugeness; see enormous]

Usage: In modern English, it is common to talk about the enormity of something such as a task or a problem, but one should not talk about the enormity of an object or area: distribution is a problem because of India's enormous size (not India's enormity)

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	enormity - the quality of being outrageous outrageousness indecency - the quality of being indecent
	2.	enormity - 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" immenseness, immensity, sizeableness, vastness, enormousness, grandness, greatness, wideness - unusual largeness in size or extent or number colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
	3.	enormity - the quality of extreme wickedness nefariousness, vileness, ugliness, wickedness - the quality of being wicked
	4.	enormity - an act of extreme wickedness atrocity, inhumanity - an act of atrocious cruelty

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enormity

noun

1. (Informal) hugeness, extent, magnitude, greatness, vastness, immensity, massiveness, enormousness, extensiveness He was appalled by the enormity of the task ahead of him.

2. wickedness, disgrace, atrocity, depravity, viciousness, villainy, turpitude, outrageousness, baseness, vileness, evilness, monstrousness, heinousness, nefariousness, atrociousness the enormity of the crime they had committed

3. atrocity, crime, horror, evil, outrage, disgrace, monstrosity, abomination, barbarity, villainy the horrific enormities perpetrated on the islanders

Translations

enormity [ɪˈnɔːmɪtɪ] N [of task] → enormidad f; [of crime, action] → gravedad f

enormity [ɪˈnɔː^rmɪti] n

(= scale) [task, problem, crime, decision] → énormité f

(= unacceptable action) → énormité f

enormity

n

no pl (of action, offence) → ungeheures Ausmaß

(of crime) → Ungeheuerlichkeit f

enormity [ɪˈnɔːmɪtɪ] n (of crime, action) → atrocità f inv; (of problem) → gravità