It seems simple enough, isn't? ‘Enormity’ is so close to ‘enormous’ that they must be synonyms. Right? Wrong! 😳
Enormity means - extreme evil of the toe-curling, medieval history or ruthless dictator kind.
Therefore, the exceptionally commonly used expression “the enormity of the situation…” means something like “the wickedness of the situation” when describing a situation which is dreadful or evil.
- I heard about the Manchester arena bombing, but it was several hours before I realised the enormity of the situation.
