enormousness

enormity, enormousness

1. Both words are derived from Latin e norma meaning ‘out of the ordinary’, and both originally had meanings associated with wicked and criminal aspects of abnormality. Enormity (15c) is older than enormousness (17c), and its first recorded meanings are ‘a breach of the law, a crime’. Both words have also been used unexceptionably at different times to mean what enormousness now means, ‘very great size’, but by the end of the 19c enormity was confined again to its special meaning, ‘great wickedness’, as in The enormity of the crime shocked everyone, and to its concrete use as in The regime inflicted many enormities on its opponents. This distinction continues to be defended by many advocates of careful usage in most contexts.

2. Because enormousness is such an awkward word, and alternatives such as hugeness and immensity are not much better, enormity is beginning to compete with it again in contexts that have nothing to do with wickedness, depravity, and suchlike, but these uses are likely to attract disapproval:

• ☒ A wide-angle lens captures the enormity of the Barbican Centre, London's new arts complex —Times, 1982

• ☒ The enormity of such open spaces momentarily alarms her —Susan Johnson, AusE 1990

• ☒ He didn't have much time to think about the enormity of what he was taking on —Express, 2007.

3. In the examples that follow, enormity is used correctly according to the criterion given above:

• Hanging would seem quite a lenient sentence considering the enormity of his crime in those harsh old days —R. Long, 1990

• I did not know then that one frequently fails to live up to the enormity of death —Anita Brookner, 1990

• The word arrogance is almost too small to contain the enormity of the offence here —Scotsman, 2007.

There is a practical point to be made, that generalized use of enormity, given its special meaning, can lead to ambiguity in contexts such as We all recognize the enormity of their achievement, when the achievement in question might anyway be open to different interpretations. However, meanings legitimately overlap in sentences such as the following:

• She tried to be a strength for her daughter, but was overwhelmed by the enormity of what was happening to them all —R. Black, 1992.