enormous
842
2.1
- adjective
- /ɪˈnɔːrməs/
:
enorme
- The storm caused an enormous amount of damage to the coastal towns.
- an enormous amount
- potentially enormous
- enormous costs
It may appear to be an enormous waste of money and time.
- It may appear to be an enormous waste of money and time.
- But then I came across this enormous pen of chimpanzees.
- This was an enormous victory for the Jews.
- And that gives you such an enormous life advantage.
- And that I think has enormous promise going forward.
- But your thoughts also have an enormous impact on your health.
- He, he went to enormous lengths to to survive.
- After two years of enormous sacrifice, we did our part.
- You have this enormous trust in science, trust in research.
- And that alone is such an enormous amount of stress.
- And so one machine will have an enormous throughput.
- And so he has enormous problems apart from those.
- They sacrifice enormous things in order to get that success.
Examples
-
The view of downtown Los Angeles from the enormous, ornate house is extraordinary.
Fiction book (1990) -
OK, they took enormous risks and tried anyway.
-
And I have an enormous number of gay friends.
-
And that gives you such an enormous life advantage.
-
That should be an enormous economic blow to China.
-
You have this enormous trust in science, trust in research.
-
But your thoughts also have an enormous impact on your health.
-
After two years of enormous sacrifice, we did our part.
-
Of course, artillery would make an enormous difference.
-
But it also saves the healthcare system an enormous amount of money.
Academic text (2011)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Larger than usual in size or amount
∞
1.0
Bigger than average in size, number, or amount
∞
1.0
Very large in size, amount, or degree
∞
1.0
Very large in size or number
940
2.9
Very large and impressive in scale
794
3.0
Very large or impressive
721
2.1
Very large in size or amount
423
4.4
Very strong in amount or feeling that is hard to deal with
141
3.7
Very large in size, amount, or degree
139
3.2
Very large, much bigger than normal
64
3.7
Quite large in size or amount
61
2.3
Larger than normal and often too big for its use
55
4.7
So large in size or amount that it causes great surprise
45
4.1
Being large in amount and often expensive
37
3.6
Very large in size, much bigger than normal
30
5.6
Very large in amount or size
21
4.5
Very large in size or amount, much bigger than normal
19
7.3
Very large, much bigger than usual
15
3.3
Very large and much bigger than usual
12
4.6
Much larger than is usual for that kind
3
4.4
Much larger than usual for its kind
3
8.6
So great that you cannot measure its value
Very large, often said in a playful way
Antonyms
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
enormous = enorm + ous
The adjective-forming suffix '-ous' is visible, but the stem 'enorm' is not a standalone modern English word and the constituent meanings are not obvious to an average learner.
Etymology
Enormous comes from Latin parts e- ('out of') and norma ('rule' or 'measure'), the same root as normal. So something enormous is 'out of the usual measure' and is much bigger than normal.