Resources
Lecciones de gramáticaLecturasEjercicios de listeningFlash cardsFalsos amigos¿Cuál usar?SufijosPrefijosDiscover your levelBlogEnormityvsEnormousness
'Enormity' is the moral seriousness of something terrible, not just size; 'enormousness' is great size or scale.
Side-by-side comparison
"Enormity" is not about size: it is about the seriousness or wickedness of something negative. Using it to say something is simply large is a very common mistake.
The jury sat in silence as they tried to absorb the enormity of the crimes that had been committed.
She struggled to comprehend the enormity of what had happened, hundreds of thousands of people had lost their homes overnight.
History has not yet fully reckoned with the enormity of the atrocities committed during that period.
"Enormousness" is about size: something that is huge in dimension or quantity. If you simply want to say something is very big, this is the right word to use.
Standing at the base of the cliff, she felt overwhelmed by the sheer enormousness of the rock face above her.
The project team had underestimated the enormousness of the technical challenge, it would take years, not months.
The enormousness of the universe is impossible for the human mind to truly grasp, the numbers are simply too large.
Common mistake
- •In formal writing, "enormity" means moral outrageousness or atrocity, not simply size.
- •"The enormity of the task" is technically imprecise if the task is large but not monstrous: the precise word is "the enormousness of the task".
- •In modern journalistic English, however, "enormity" for great size is widely accepted.
Trick to remember it
- •"Enormity" = ENORME + (atroc)ITY, moral monstrousness, crossing an ethical line.
- •"Enormousness" = ENORMOUS + NESS, only size, no moral weight.
Quick rule
- •"Enormity" = moral gravity of something terrible (in formal writing).
- •"Enormousness" = great magnitude or size (no moral implication).
Did you know?
The distinction between "enormity" and "enormousness" is one of the longest-running debates in prescriptive English. Linguist Arnold Zwicky documented "enormity" used to mean "great size" as far back as the 18th century in texts by educated speakers. The AP Style Guide still recommends reserving "enormity" for "moral outrageousness". But the New York Times now regularly uses "enormity" for size. A classic case of a prescriptive rule overtaken in journalistic and popular use but still alive in academic and legal writing.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
She was shocked by the _____ of his crime. She could not believe someone would do that.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The _____ of the building was impressive. It was fifty floors high.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
"Bemused" = confused, bewildered, perplexed (not entertained); "amused" = entertained, finding something funny or entertaining.
"Literally" = in the exact, word-for-word sense; "figuratively" = as a metaphor, hyperbole, or figure of speech, not the actual thing.
"Above" is at a higher level without contact; "over" implies covering, movement, or crossing.
'Currently' means 'at the present time'; 'actually' means 'in reality', not 'nowadays'.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy