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The word abject emphasizes a very bad situation or quality, thereby making it even worse.
If you abominate something, you hate it because you think it is extremely wrong and unacceptable.
When you absolve someone, you publicly and formally say that they are not guilty or responsible for any wrongdoing.
A situation or condition that is abysmal is extremely bad or of wretched quality.
A benefaction is a charitable contribution of money or assistance that someone gives to a person or organization.
If you describe someone as benign, they are kind, gentle, and harmless.
Depravity is behavior that is immoral, corrupt, or evil.
Something, such as a building, is derelict if it is empty, not used, and in bad condition or disrepair.
If you say a person’s actions are despicable, you think they are extremely unpleasant or nasty.
If you say something is diabolical, you are emphasizing that it is evil, cruel, or very bad.
An action that is flagrant shows that someone does not care if they obviously break the rules or highly offend people.
If you describe something as heinous, you mean that is extremely evil, shocking, and bad.
Iniquity is an immoral act, wickedness, or evil.
When someone has integrity, they do the right thing, no matter what; therefore, they are an honest and good person.
If you describe someone as Machiavellian, you disapprove of him because he uses clever tricks and other dishonest methods to achieve his aims, especially in politics.
Something or someone that is maleficent deliberately tries to cause harm or evil.
A malevolent person or thing is evil due to deliberate attempts to cause harm.
Malfeasance is an unlawful act, especially one committed by a trusted public official.
A nefarious activity is considered evil and highly dishonest.
A peccadillo is a slight or minor offense that can be overlooked.
Penury is the state of being extremely poor.
Philanthropy is unselfish support in the form of donating money, work, or gifts to positive social purposes; philanthropy is also overall love for humans in general.
Probity is very moral and honest behavior.
Propriety is behaving in a socially acceptable and appropriate way.
The sanctity of something is its holiness or sacred quality.
The word squalor describes very dirty and unpleasant conditions that people live or work in, usually due to poverty or neglect.
Turpitude is the state of engaging in immoral or evil activities.
A vicious person is corrupt, violent, aggressive, and highly immoral.
Something vile is evil, very unpleasant, horrible, or extremely bad.
Noun
enormity
i-NAWR-mi-tee
Context
The sheer enormity or great evil of the violent conflict is almost unimaginable: many hundreds of thousands have died in horrible, cruel ways—and the suffering continues. The enormity and horrors of the crimes committed become clear when visiting the refugee camps, where young children and women have lost all hope. Many journalists who go to the region come back shocked and depressed because they are totally unprepared for the enormity or extreme moral offensiveness of the human tragedy they have witnessed.
Quiz:Try again!
When would it be appropriate to refer to the enormity of a ruler?
When that ruler has made such immense and positive changes that they are beloved by almost every citizen.
When that ruler has committed wicked and vicious acts against their people.
When that ruler has achieved a level of power that no ruler in history has experienced.
If you refer to the enormity of a situation, problem, or event, you mean that it is very evil or morally offensive; this word has nothing to do with physical size.
Enormous Pity One can feel enormous pity for the horrifying enormity of a catastrophe in which many thousands of people have pointlessly died.
Examples
When we dwell on the enormity of the Second World War and its victims, we try to absorb all those statistics of national and ethnic tragedy. But, as a result, there is a tendency to overlook the way the war changed even the survivors' lives in ways impossible to predict.
—
Antony Beevor, British historian and author
With climate change, species extinctions, and ocean damages rapidly accelerating worldwide, there is great value in preserving as much land and water as we can. Hydro Quebec never acknowledges the enormity of the crimes it commits against nature and people.
—
The Altamont Enterprise
The world’s vital insect kingdom is undergoing “death by a thousand cuts,” the world’s top bug experts said. . . . The problem, sometimes called the insect apocalypse, is like a jigsaw puzzle. And scientists say they still don’t have all the pieces, so they have trouble grasping its enormity and complexity and getting the world to notice and do something.
—
ABC News
Rupert Goold, the director, portrays Mayer almost as a monster, emphasising his enormity—especially when compared with the diminutive Garland—and half-hiding him in shadows.
—
The Economist
Enormity is, at core, the “state or quality” of being “out of a pattern or standard” of acceptable conduct, thus going into an area that is beyond normal or acceptable “patterns” or “standards” of the way things should be.
