n.
(pl. enormities)
-
(the enormity of)
the large scale or extreme seriousness of (something bad).
▸(in neutral use) the great size or scale of.
- a grave crime or sin.
Usage
In its earliest sense enormity meant ‘a crime’ and some argue that it should therefore continue to be used only of contexts in which a negative moral judgement is implied. Nevertheless, in modern English enormity is often simply used as a synonym for hugeness (the enormity of his intellect), and this is now broadly accepted in standard English.
Etymology
ME (orig. in the sense ‘deviation from rectitude’): via OFr. from L. enormitas, from enormis, from e- ‘out of’ + norma ‘pattern, standard’.
