enormous
Americanadjective
-
greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc.; huge; immense.
an enormous fortune.
- Synonyms:
- stupendous, prodigious, mammoth, gigantic, colossal, vast
-
outrageous or atrocious.
enormous wickedness; enormous crimes.
adjective
-
unusually large in size, extent, or degree; immense; vast
-
archaic extremely wicked; heinous
Synonym Usage
See huge.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of enormous
Explanation
When something is very, very, VERY big, it can be called enormous. “Good heavens, that pimple on your cheek is absolutely enormous; it covers half your face!” The word enormous contains within it, if you look closely, the root norm, as in normal. So what you’re saying when you call something enormous is that it’s beyond what is normal; you’re trying to convey a sense of exaggerated difference. You may also have heard the word ginormous, which people try to use as enormous with a dramatic flair. But, trust us: ginormous is not a good word; it’s just a blend of two words — gigantic and enormous.
Vocabulary lists containing enormous
Chains
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Living Large: Synonyms for "Big"
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Essential English Vocabulary, List 8
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The scale of the transformation of Manchester City... delivered enormous soft power gains by association for Abu Dhabi," Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East researcher at Rice University's Baker Institute, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
Angelina Jolie has sold her enormous Los Angeles pad for $24.75 million—months after putting the opulent property on the market and confessing she wants to leave the U.S. for good.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Many advanced deepfake detectors depend on enormous amounts of digital computation.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
She said she could not understand "how an investigation covering an area as enormous and complex as Wales can be described as a deep dive".
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
He noticed, too, that the knight was a small man carrying an enormous lance.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
