enormity
• noun (pl. enormities) 1 (the enormity of) the extreme seriousness or extent of (something bad). 2 great size or scale: the enormity of Einstein’s intellect. 3 a grave crime or sin. — USAGE Enormity is not related to enormous and originally meant ‘a crime or deviation from morality’. For this reason some people object to its use in modern English as a synonym for hugeness. — ORIGIN Latin enormitas, from norma ‘pattern, standard’.
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