enormity
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle French énormité, from Latin ēnormitātem, from ēnormis.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
enormity (plural enormities)
- (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.
- (countable) An act of extreme evil or wickedness. [from 15th c.]
- (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.
- 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 103:
[edit] Usage notes
- The use of enormity as a synonym for "enormousness" is frequently considered an error.
[edit] Translations
Extreme wickedness, nefariousness
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