enormity

noun

i-ˈnȯr-mə-tē How to pronounce enormity (audio)
Definition of enormitynext
1
as in badness
the state or quality of being utterly evil the enormity of the crimes committed by the Nazis

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in magnitude
the quality or state of being very large the enormity of the canyon can only be grasped by taking a trip through its entire length

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of enormity Grohl made mention of the enormity of this stadium production and was clearly jazzed to be near his northern Virginia roots. — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026 That was the emotional dawn to follow Wednesday’s darkest hour, but before a new League One campaign beginning away to Leyton Orient tomorrow (Saturday), the enormity of the rebuild has become clear. — Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026 Given the enormity and complexity of the task and what’s at stake, this cannot be done on the cheap. — Michael Posner, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026 In one sign of the enormity of Meta’s AI investments, the company’s free cash flow in the second quarter fell to $784 million, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 30 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for enormity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enormity
  1. badness
  2. magnitude
  3. sinfulness
  4. immensity
  5. atrocity
  6. vastness
  7. evilness
  8. hugeness
Noun
  • On one side, a satanic figure named Randall Flagg who gathers his forces of badness to Las Vegas; on the other, the good guys, led by 108-year-old Mother Abigail in, of all places, Boulder.
    — Barbara Ellis, Denver Post, 15 Jan. 2026
  • The show premiered over Thanksgiving weekend, when people were tired and full and bored (and probably also horny), and countered our world’s unceasing badness with its world’s buoyant sweetness.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026
Definition of badness
Noun
  • An assault of that magnitude would almost certainly trigger a united NATO response.
    — Ned Temko, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Sep. 2026
  • On a favorable pass, Tiangong can reach up to about magnitude –2, roughly as bright as Jupiter.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of magnitude
Noun
  • But soon after, in Genesis 18, God tells Abraham of plans to investigate reports of sinfulness in Sodom and Gomorrah.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 July 2026
  • Denver author Josiah Hesse was raised by Evangelical parents in churches that believe in the torments of hell, that their poverty is due to their sinfulness and lack of faith.
    — Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 1 Feb. 2026
Definition of sinfulness
Noun
  • Cape Ann’s distinctive, undulant geography combined pungent industry and village intensity with Atlantic immensity of sea and sky.
    — Emma Sarappo, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Romantic; something about the fearsome, post-human immensity of these spaces clearly inspired him.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of immensity
Noun
  • From the new arrivals, Dresdeners heard the harrowing tales of mass rapes, murders, and atrocities perpetrated by Russian soldiers eager for revenge.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 31 Aug. 2026
  • But a drumbeat of doubt began in Elwood’s head in 2010 on a tour of Sarajevo, where Bosnian-Serb forces had committed atrocities during the war that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia.
    — Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of atrocity
Noun
  • Even Musk, despite his vow to take a chainsaw to the bureaucracy, seemed exhausted by the vastness of what his Department of Government Efficiency had taken on, and abandoned DOGE over a year earlier than planned.
    — Jennifer Pahlka, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The book features portraits of puesteros between shots of domestic settings and local landscapes—the little that belongs to them and the vastness that does not.
    — Ana Karina Zatarain, New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of vastness
Noun
  • That was really what helped me into the character and into her evilness.
    — William Earl, Variety, 4 Oct. 2025
Definition of evilness
Noun
  • The script brilliantly lays that out to counteract some of the hugeness of her character.
    — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 28 July 2026
  • Nowhere in the vestiges of what was once the sprawl of corporate hugeness known as The General Electric Company are there signs that Katharine Blodgett's laboratory notebooks still exist.
    — Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2026
Definition of hugeness

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enormity
enormous
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Cite this Entry

“Enormity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enormity. Accessed 8 Sep. 2026.

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