enormity

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[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle French énormité, from Latin ēnormitātem, from ēnormis.

[edit] Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ɪˈnɔːmɪti/

[edit] Noun

enormity (plural enormities)

  1. (uncountable) Extreme wickedness, nefariousness. [from 15th c.]
    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.
  2. (countable) An act of extreme evil or wickedness. [from 15th c.]
  3. (uncountable) Hugeness, enormousness, immenseness. [from 18th c.]
    • 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 103:
      But the enormity of Clement's vision of papal grandeur only became clear once the public rooms were completed during the years that immediately followed.

[edit] Usage notes

  • The use of enormity as a synonym for "enormousness" is frequently considered an error.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Related terms

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