2022-02-28
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – E - enormity & enormousness
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Dictionary.com:
ออกเสียง enormity = “ih-NAWR-mi-tee”
ออกเสียง enormousness = “ih-NAWR-muhs-nis”
Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary:
enormity & enormousness
Originally these two words were synonymous,
but “enormity” got whittled down
to meaning something monstrous or outrageous.
Don’t wonder at the “enormity” of the Palace of Versailles
unless you wish to express horror at this embodiment of Louis XIV’s ego.
The A-Z of Correct English Common Errors in English Dictionary:
enormity
This means a grave sin or a crime,
or describes something that is a grave sin or a crime
or a disaster on a huge scale.
We gradually realised the full ENORMITY of the tragedy.
It is often used in popular speech
to mean ‘enormousness’, ‘hugeness’, ‘immensity’.
This should be avoided in a formal context.
Dictionary.com:
WORDS OFTEN CONFUSED WITH ENORMITY
Enormity has been in frequent and
continuous use in the sense “immensity” since the 18th century:
The enormity of the task was overwhelming.
Some hold that enormousness is the correct word in that sense
and that enormity can only mean “outrageousness” or “atrociousness”:
The enormity of his offenses appalled the public.
Enormity occurs regularly in edited writing
with the meanings both of great size and of outrageous
or horrifying character, behavior, etc.
Many people, however, continue to regard enormity
in the sense of great size as nonstandard.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Enormity vs. Enormousness: Usage Guide
Enormity, some people insist, is improperly used to denote large size.
They insist on enormousness for this meaning, and
would limit enormity to the meaning "great wickedness."
Those who urge such a limitation may not recognize the subtlety
with which enormity is actually used.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Did you know?
Although
enormity has been used since the late 1700s to denote large size,
this usage continues to be disparaged
by various language commentators who argue that
enormity should be reserved for senses related to "great wickedness."
It is enormousness, they insist
(a hefty and considerably less common word),
that should be used in reference to great size, despite the fact that,
like enormity, it too originally was used to denote wickedness or divergence from accepted moral standards.
For better or worse, this proscription has been widely ignored
by many English speakers, including professional writers.
However one chooses to use them,
enormity and enormous can both be traced back to the Latin enormis,
from the prefix e- ("out of") and norma ("rule," "pattern," or "carpenter's square").
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
List of Words You Love to Hate
Enormity has been used to mean “so, so big”
(not a technical definition) ever since that bounder
Thomas Elyot used it thusly in a translation of Plutarch, back in 1532.
Almost 500 years of continuous use has not quelled the ire
of those who object to the word meaning anything but
“an outrageous, improper, vicious, or immoral act.”
This matter ignites such passion that it seems likely
that we will still be hearing about it 500 years hence.
If you would like to learn more about this enormity you may do so here.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Words at Play
We Made You a Bunch of Usage Limericks
Of the subject of semantic upheaval
Some critics would make it illegal
They think that enormity
Is a verbal deformity
When its meaning is aught but “great evil”
Enormity is frequently used to denote large size.
People who use it in this fashion are also frequently criticized for doing so.
Yet although the size-related meaning of enormity
is frowned upon by many, it has been so used in English
for almost 400 years now, and seems unlikely to go away.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Choose the Right Synonym for enormous
Enormous, Immense, Huge, Vast, Gigantic, Colossal, Mammoth
mean exceedingly large.
Enormous and Immense both suggest an exceeding of all ordinary bounds in size or amount or degree, but Enormous often adds an implication of abnormality or monstrousness.
an enormous expense
an immense shopping mall
Hugecommonly suggests an immensity of bulk or amount.
incurred a huge debt
Vastusually suggests immensity of extent.
the vast Russian steppes
Giganticstresses the contrast with the size of others of the same kind.
a gigantic sports stadium
Colossalapplies especially to a human creation of stupendous or incredibledimensions.
a colossal statue of Lincoln
Mammothsuggests both hugeness and ponderousness of bulk.
a mammoth boulder
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Word History
Yes, 'Enormity' Can Mean 'Enormousness'
'Enormousness' originally meant "great evil"
and now means "great size."
Why shouldn't 'enormity' follow the same path?
Everyone has their own personal arsenal of linguistic peeves.
Even the least-judgmental among us are prone to such complaints on occasion.
Some of these are mild, and provoke in the peeved
nothing more than a sigh of exasperation or a raised eyebrow.
And then there are words such as enormity.
The defenders of the purity of enormity
tend to take their jobs very seriously, and raise more than eyebrows.
People have used 'enormity' to mean "great size" for almost 400 years.
The many people who still object to this usage
might benefit from a lesson on the actual history of the word.
In case you are as of yet unaware of what the issue is here,
some people use enormity as a synonym for enormousness (“great size”), and a number of other people wish that they wouldn’t,
since the "proper" meaning of enormity is
thought to be “great evil or wickedness.”
Usage guides often weigh in on this subject, in admirably measured prose, and tend to recommend
using enormity for “evil” and enormousness for “great size.
So there you have it. Case closed.
Except that if we should not use enormity to mean “large size,”
on the grounds that the original meaning was “great wickedness,”
shouldn’t we check what the original meaning of enormousness was,
just to be on the safe side?
Here are a handful of citations of that word in its first few decades of use.
It would appear that enormousness did not begin
to be used to refer to “great size” until the 19th century,
after having been used for “wickedness” or “deviation from a normal course” for almost 200 years.
At some point, everybody began using enormousness
to refer to size, instead of evil,
and the next thing you know...wait a minute, that sounds vaguely familiar
It would seem that enormity
is taking the same route that enormousness did,
at least insofar as its semantic drift is concerned.
Furthermore, if the comments by the above members of Twitter
are in fact correct,
the newer meaning is beginning to supplant the older meaning.
It is worth pointing out that
if “we have all been using” a word in a certain manner,
or if that use (or misuse) is “near universal,”
then that word has now taken on a new meaning.
It can be tempting to say that an overwhelming majority of
the population is using a word in the wrong fashion,
but that’s not quite how language change works;
it is a fairly democratic process,
and tends to follow the use of the majority,
rather than the directives of the few.
You should bear in mind, should you decide
to use enormity to refer to the size of your bar tab,
that there will be people who think less of you (or less of your language) because of this.
It is up to you to decide whether or not
you feel comfortable with incurring the wrath or scorn of these people.
And while we feel that there is sufficient evidence of enormity
being used in reference to size to merit an additional definition for this,
we are not insensitive to the fact that this annoys some people.
So by way of mollification
we can offer the annoyed some historical context:
if you still believe that this is a misuse of the word,
it is a very old one, having existed for almost 400 years now.
Thomas Elyot, in a translation of Plutarch from 1532, employed enormity quite clearly to indicate the extreme size of a thing
(in this case it was the Cyclops Polyphemus, “who excelled al the other in enormitie of stature”).
If you’re still annoyed, you can take it up with Elyot on Twitter.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary:
usage:
enormity has been in continuous use in the sense “immensity”
since the 18th century.
Some hold that enormousness is the correct word in that sense
and that enormity can only mean “outrageousness” or “atrociousness.”
enormity occurs regularly in edited writing with the meanings
both of great size and of outrageous or horrifying character, behavior, etc.
Some people, however,
continue to condemn its use in the sense “great size.”
Collins English Dictionary:
enormous
Usage:
In modern English, it is common to talk about
the enormity of something such as a task or a problem,
but one should not talk about
the enormity of an object or area:
distribution is a problem because of India's enormous size (not India's enormity)
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language:
enormous.
Usage Note:
Enormity is frequently used to refer
simply to the property of being great in size or extent,
but many people would prefer that enormousness
(or a synonym such as immensity) be used for this general sense,
and that enormity be limited to situations
that demand a negative moral judgment,
as in
Not until the war ended and journalists were able to enter Cambodia did the world really become aware of the enormity of Pol Pot's oppression.
A majority of the Usage Panel has rejected
the general use of enormity since the 1960s,
and although resistance to this usage has lost some of its intensity,
it remains strong. In our 1967 survey, 93 percent of the Panel
rejected the word's use to refer to physical extent in the example
The enormity of Latin America is readily apparent from these maps.
In both our 1988 and 2002 surveys, 59 percent of the Panel
rejected the use of enormity as a synonym for immensity in the example
At that point the engineers sat down to design an entirely new viaduct, apparently undaunted by the enormity of their task.
Even if one sides with the dissenting 41 percent
and allows for enormity's largeness,
it may be best to avoid it in phrases like
the enormity of the president's election victory
and the enormity of her inheritance,
where enormity's sense
of monstrousness may give rise to unintended smirks.
