Enormity means EVIL, not large

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Using enormity to mean "bigness" is not an acceptable error. It is not a close call.

Someone reading a transcript of CNN just now may have wondered what Wolf Blitzer meant when he referred to "the enormity of this moment" referring to HCR being on the verge of passage.

When people misuse a word often enough some dictionaries will add that misuse as a choice because a dictionary is ultimately a reference used to figure out what someone means.

Wolfie was probably trying to express bigness; large size (One hopes...)

Any dictionary will say enormity means evil with a sense of great evil. A modern dictionary may offer bigness/importance as a secondary meaning of enormity so that we can figure out what someone like Mr. Blitzer is trying to say. A good dictionary will note that that usage is illiterate.

Lots of people misuse this word. Even President Obama has misused this word. (Which was painful to hear since that sort of thing was supposed to have gone out with Bush)

But that doesn't make it right.

Sorry, but this particular error grinds me. When TV broadcasters and highly educated Presidents misuse words it serves to legitimize the error.

[Bicoastal]

1. The Teabaggers on Capitol Hill were pretty noisome, weren't they?

(Look it up...)

[Oregone]

2. Thanks. Didn't know that.

[Xipe Totec]

3. What is your source? nt

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

It simply means outside the norm.


Archaic meaning: extremely wicked; heinous.

Did you just wake up from cryo?

[Sanity Claws]

4. Actually it means both

I looked it up in the dictionary in my MacBook to verify.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

13. As Noted in the OP

[Motown_Johnny]

5. more than one definition, sorry

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enormity

^snip^

3.greatness of size, scope, extent, or influence; immensity: The enormity of such an act of generosity is staggering.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

14. As Noted in the OP

[onenote]

6. its one of those words whose meaning is changing

In fact, President Obama (mis)used the word enormity in both his Grant Park speech and in his speech at the Lincoln Memorial during inauguration week. So, while you are technically correct, its probably a losing cause to think the old definition is still the primary defintiion

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

11. I am glad someone in this thread has a clue.

Enormity will soon mean bigness because people keep misusing it and words tend to mean whatever most people think they mean.

I will wager that 200 years ago "enormous" didn't mean enormous. Aggravate certainly didn't, which is why people think "aggravated assault" means provoked assault.

But the fact that ignorant usages do change language is not a defense of ignorance.


And, quite obviously, there is always a point where an ignorant but widespread usage makes it into dictionaries.

It is fairly certain that the people here posting what their dictionary says did not know what the word meant five minutes ago. But here they are proclaiming, as if a dictionary were an almanac.

And that urge to defend ones ignorance at all costs rather than learn something is the sad part.

[kenny blankenship]

7. If a broadcaster (mis)uses a word a certain way

and his or her audience (mis)hears it the same way, meaning they have the same mistaken understanding of the term, are they really wrong?

[Odin2005]

8. I thought it mean a BIG evil.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Merriam-Webster disagrees.

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. It regularly denotes a considerable departure from the expected or normal <they awakened; they sat up; and then the enormity of their situation burst upon them. “How did the fire start?” — John Steinbeck>. When used to denote large size, either literal or figurative, it usually suggests something so large as to seem overwhelming <no intermediate zone of study. Either the enormity of the desert or the sight of a tiny flower — Paul Theroux> <the enormity of the task of teachers in slum schools — J. B. Conant> and may even be used to suggest both great size and deviation from morality <the enormity of existing stockpiles of atomic weapons — New Republic>. It can also emphasize the momentousness of what has happened <the sombre enormity of the Russian Revolution — George Steiner> or of its consequences <perceived as no one in the family could the enormity of the misfortune — E. L. Doctorow>.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enormity

As does Random House:
—Usage note
3. 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.

cite: Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enormity (accessed: March 21, 2010).

American Heritage agrees with you:

Usage Note: Enormity is frequently used to refer simply to the property of being great in size or extent, but many 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. Fifty-nine percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of enormity as a synonym for immensity in the sentence At that point the engineers sat down to design an entirely new viaduct, apparently undaunted by the enormity of their task. This distinction between enormity and enormousness has not always existed historically, but nowadays many observe it. Writers who ignore the distinction, as in the enormity of the President's election victory or the enormity of her inheritance, may find that their words have cast unintended aspersions or evoked unexpected laughter.

cite: Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enormity (accessed: March 21, 2010).

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

12. Good citations. (Note that even Webster does not accept the Blitzer usage.)

Though Merriam-Webster is widely accepting they still recognize that it is a negative word.

And I am giving Blitzer the B of the D in assuming he did not mean to say anything negative about HCR in his comment.

A person speaking of the enormity of their love for their child would be making a clear error.

A politician citing the enormity of our challenges might get away with it, but noting the enormity of our task in meeting those challenges is a clear error. (Unless one is just a bad politician!)

[Gormy Cuss]

15. I clicked on this OP because I know that it can mean EITHER, depending on context

and the better dictionaries like Merriam-Webster recognize this (I think even the OED does know but I don't have one at home,) but I'm not sure most people think of the primary definition anymore. The usage seems to be shifting back to enormity more frequently as synonymous with enormousness. A sly commentator could use it exactly as Blitzer did as a private joke. The only question is whether Blizter or his writers knew what they were doing.

[Sheepshank]

10. I always thought it refered to a grand penis size.

And I'm generally ok with that interpretation even if I'm the only one who sees it that way. OTOH, I can use the *correct* use of the word, 'wicked' as in "his wicked swollen....."