enormous

Adjective

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (1)

extraordinarily large in size or extent or amount or power or degree“an enormous boulder”“enormous expenses”“tremendous sweeping plains”“a tremendous fact in human experience; that a whole civilization should be dependent on technology — Walter Lippman”“a plane took off with a tremendous noise”Synonyms: tremendous

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Enormous \E*nor"mous\, a. [L. enormis enormous, out of rule; e out + norma rule: cf. F. ['e]norme. See Normal.]

1.Exceeding the usual rule, norm, or measure; out of due proportion; inordinate; abnormal. "Enormous bliss." --Milton. "This enormous state." --Shak. "The hoop's enormous size." --Jenyns. [1913 Webster]

Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

2.Exceedingly wicked; outrageous; atrocious; monstrous; as, an enormous crime. [1913 Webster]

That detestable profession of a life so enormous.— Bale.

Syn: Huge; vast; immoderate; immense; excessive; prodigious; monstrous.

Usage: -- Enormous, Immense, Excessive. We speak of a thing as enormous when it overpasses its ordinary law of existence or far exceeds its proper average or standard, and becomes -- so to speak -- abnormal in its magnitude, degree, etc.; as, a man of enormous strength; a deed of enormous wickedness. Immense expresses somewhat indefinitely an immeasurable quantity or extent. Excessive is applied to what is beyond a just measure or amount, and is always used in an evil; as, enormous size; an enormous crime; an immense expenditure; the expanse of ocean is immense. "Excessive levity and indulgence are ultimately excessive rigor." --V. Knox. "Complaisance becomes servitude when it is excessive." --La Rochefoucauld (Trans). [1913 Webster]