enormous

[ih-nawr-muhs]

adjective

1. greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc.; huge; immense.

   an enormous fortune.

   Synonyms: stupendous, prodigious, mammoth, gigantic, colossal, vast

2. outrageous or atrocious.

   enormous wickedness; enormous crimes.

enormous

/ ɪˈnɔːməs /

adjective

1. unusually large in size, extent, or degree; immense; vast

2. archaic,  extremely wicked; heinous

Other Word Forms

• enormously adverb
• enormousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of enormous¹

First recorded in 1525–35; enorm + -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of enormous¹

C16: from Latin ēnormis, from ē- out of, away from + norma rule, pattern

Synonym Study

See huge.

Example Sentences

But beneath enormous tents erected over a former airport at the edge of the rainforest, nations also adopted some decisions on how to battle climate change.

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The new results confirm earlier observations in which researchers studied quasars, the extremely bright centers of distant galaxies where supermassive black holes consume matter and emit enormous amounts of energy.

Read more on Science Daily

Strolling through the rooms, visitors may not immediately appreciate the enormous amount of scholarship that was necessary to assemble the show.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

These remains indicate that enormous sharks shared the top of the food chain with giant marine reptiles during the Age of Dinosaurs.

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“It makes sense to overinvest in it, to overspend on it, because the payoff is enormous.”

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Related Words

• behemothic www.thesaurus.com
• colossal 
• excessive 
• gargantuan 
• gigantic 
• huge 
• humongous 
• immense 
• mammoth 
• massive 
• monstrous 
• prodigious 
• tremendous 
• vast