Word games: the enormity of it all…

Here’s a word I don’t rant about: enormity. What does it mean? If you’ve been to a good school in England you should know. Or at least think you do.

Enormity means a huge and grievous crime, something very evil indeed. As in ‘the enormity of the Holocaust’. Or ‘the enormity of ethnic cleansing’.

As the Oxford English Dictionary notes the word is ‘not related to enormous and originally meant “a crime or deviation from morality”.’ For that reason if you use ‘enormity’ to mean something very big in an article for a newspaper you will, I guarantee, get some snotty emails calling you an idiot.

Are they right?



The meaning of words changes with usage over time. If sufficient people ‘misuse’ a word like ‘enormity’ does their usage of it become acceptable after a while?

The OED seems to think so. In its definitions it says, ‘noun (pl. enormities) 1 (the enormity of) the extreme seriousness or extent of (something bad). 2 great size or scale: the enormity of Einstein’s intellect. 3 a grave crime or sin.’

Same goes for Merriam-Webster…

1 : an outrageous, improper, vicious, or immoral act <the enormities of state power — Susan Sontag> <other enormities too juvenile to mention — Richard Freedman>
2 : the quality or state of being immoderate, monstrous, or outrageous;especially : great wickedness <the enormity of the crimes committed during the Third Reich — G. A. Craig>
3 : the quality or state of being huge : immensity <the inconceivable enormity of the universe>
4 : a quality of momentous importance or impact <the enormity of the decision>

Merriam-Webster goes on to list a few authors in support…

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>.

So it seems clear to me that those snotty letter-writers are wrong. You can use enormity to mean ‘great size’ and still hold your head up high.

But I won’t. I’d still be able to hear my old English teacher shrieking from beyond the grave. Conditioning you see. But if you want to use it that way please go ahead, and when someone moans -- as they will -- send them to OED and Merriam-Webster with a smile.