enormous

Meanings

1. 1adjectivenot comparable

   Very large in size, amount or degree, much bigger than usual.

   Grammar: Already means very large, so say really enormous, not more enormous.

   Patterns

   • an enormous amount of something
   • enormous in size

   An enormous crowd gathered outside the stadium.

   The whale was enormous, longer than a bus.

   She faced enormous pressure to succeed.

2. 2adjectivebefore a noun

   Very great in importance or effect, describing things like help, success or effort.

   Grammar: Works with abstract nouns: an enormous help.

   Patterns

   • an enormous help
   • an enormous difference

   Your advice was an enormous help to me.

   The new law made an enormous difference to farmers.

   It took enormous courage to speak out.

Common combinations

enormous amount

The project requires an enormous amount of work.

enormous pressure

Players are under enormous pressure to win.

enormous success

The festival was an enormous success.

enormous size

Its enormous size made it hard to move.

enormous difference

Sleep makes an enormous difference to my mood.

Synonyms and how they differ

huge

Huge is the everyday word and leans toward physical size, while enormous is slightly more formal and stronger.

immense

Immense often suggests something too big to measure, and is common with abstract ideas.

gigantic

Gigantic stresses size like a giant, so it is more vivid and mostly about physical things.

vast

Vast suggests wide extent, like an area or ocean, while enormous suggests great bulk or degree.

Opposites

Word family

enormously adverb

to a very great degree

enormity noun

great wickedness, or sometimes the huge size of something

norm noun

the usual standard from which the older sense of enormous came

Commonly confused: enormous or enormity?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “enormous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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