| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| enormity, enormousness (nn.) |
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| Enormousness means “extremely large size” and has no pejorative overtones, but enormity is in the midst of a major semantic change, and you must use it with great care. It has long meant “monstrousness, great wickedness,” and the like, as in The enormity of his crimes shocked everyone, in addition to its senses of hugeness, great size, and scale. But today the word is used more and more often, in speech and in print, to indicate only something of great size not in any way unpleasant, criminal, outrageous, or unnatural. Some editors still won’t accept it in this new, elevated sense, but the use is growing, as all dictionaries now attest. Best advice: control the reader’s response by means of context, and be aware that older or conservative audiences consider enormity pejorative. See SYNONYM. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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