Enormity Meaning
/ɪˈnɔːmɪti/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounDeviation from what is normal or standard; irregularity, abnormality.
nounDeviation from moral normality; extreme wickedness, nefariousness, or cruelty.
Sentence Examples
He was unaware of the enormity of the offense.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ of the crime shocked even the most experienced detective.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The workers were overwhelmed by the ____ of the massive construction project.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I had an obscure feeling that all was not over, and that he would still commit some signal crime, which by its enormity should almost efface the recollection of the past."
— 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 6:
"Hannah Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" in her dispatches for The New Yorker from Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem in 1961. It was her attempt to square the mediocrity of the man with the enormity of his crimes."
— 2015 June 6, Duncan White, “Boston Marathon bombing: New book ‘Road to a Modern Tragedy’ examines Tsarnaev brothers’ motivation [print version: Behind the mask, page R23]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), London, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2015:
"Yet she appeared confident in innocence, and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands; for all the kindness which her beauty might otherwise have excited, was obliterated in the minds of the spectators by the imagination of the enormity she was supposed to have committed."
— 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 161–162:
"Monsters of impurity, avaricious wretches, poisoners, have occupied the papal see. A learned bishop (Maret of the General Council) expresses himself with holy indignation in reference to the frightful enormities of the tenth century."
— 1870 July, Jean-Henri Merle d’Aubigné, “Dr Merle D’Aubigne on the Council and Infallibility”, in The British and Foreign Evangelical Review, volume XIX, number LXXIII, London: James Nisbet & Co., Berners Street; Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, →OCLC, page 591:
"In 1650 Lieutenant William Jackson was in trouble for holding, among many other enormities, ‘community of all things’, including, apparently, wives."
— 1972, Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, Folio Society, published 2016, page 93:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ of the crime shocked even the most experienced detective.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The workers were overwhelmed by the ____ of the massive construction project.