Link Centre Dictionary

enormity

enor·mity

UK/ɪˈnɔːmɪti/ US/ɪˈnoɹmɪti/ rare obsolete

noun

1.

the quality of being outrageous

Synonyms
2.

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”
3.
4.

Origin

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).

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.