enormous

Definitions

1. 1.Exceedingly wicked; outrageous; atrocious; monstrous; as, an enormous crime. That detestable profession of a life so enormous. Bale. -- 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).

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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