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Enormity
Definitions
- 1 Deviation from what is normal or standard; irregularity, abnormality. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 2 an act of extreme wickedness wordnet
- 3 Deviation from moral normality; extreme wickedness, nefariousness, or cruelty. uncountable
"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."
- 4 the quality of extreme wickedness wordnet
- 5 A breach of law or morality; a transgression, an act of evil or wickedness. countable
"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."
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- 6 the quality of being outrageous wordnet
- 7 Great size; enormousness, hugeness, immenseness. proscribed, sometimes, uncountable
"I am in Amerika! I felt like weeping at the enormity of this fact. Amerika, the fabled, the mythic, the coveted. The knowledge that we had no visas, and therefore would not be allowed to set foot on land, dampened my enthusiasm only a little."
- 8 vastness of size or extent wordnet
Etymology
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).
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Unscramble this word: enormity