different between bulk vs enormity

English

Etymology

From Middle English bulk, bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold; heap; bulge”), borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?el?- (“beam, pile, prop”). Compare Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”).

Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?lk, IPA^(key): /b?lk/
• Rhymes: -?lk

Noun

bulk (countable and uncountable, plural bulks)

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

1. Size, specifically, volume.
   • 1729. I Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, page 1.

     The Quantity of Matter is the measure of the same, arising from its density and bulk conjunctly.

   • The cliff-dwellers had chipped and chipped away at this boulder till it rested its tremendous bulk upon a mere pin-point of its surface.

2. Any huge body or structure.
3. The major part of something.
4. Dietary fibre.
5. (uncountable, transport) Unpackaged goods when transported in large volumes, e.g. coal, ore or grain.
6. (countable) a cargo or any items moved or communicated in the manner of cargo.
7. (bodybuilding) Excess body mass, especially muscle.
8. (bodybuilding) A period where one tries to gain muscle.
9. (brane cosmology) A hypothetical higher-dimensional space within which our own four-dimensional universe may exist.
10. (obsolete) The body.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of George Turberville to this entry?)

Translations

Adjective

bulk (not comparable)

1. being large in size, mass or volume (of goods, etc.)
2. total

Translations

Derived terms

• bulken (verb)

Verb

bulk (third-person singular simple present bulks, present participle bulking, simple past and past participle bulked)

1. (intransitive) To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent.
2. (intransitive) To grow in size; to swell or expand.
3. (intransitive) To gain body mass by means of diet, exercise, etc.
4. (transitive) To put or hold in bulk.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To add bulk to, to bulk out.

Related terms

• bulker
• bulkhead
• bulky
• bulk up
• in bulk

Translations

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English ?norme (“monstrous or unnatural act; enormity”), from Old French énormité (“enormity”), from Latin ?normit?s (“irregularity; enormity”), from ?n?rmis (“irregular, unusual; enormous, immense”) + -it?s (suffix forming nouns indicating states of being). ?n?rmis is derived from e- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘out; away’) + n?rma (“norm, standard”) + -is (Latin suffix forming adjectives from nouns).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??n??m?ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n??m?ti/, /-?i/
• Hyphenation: enorm?i?ty

Noun

enormity (countable and uncountable, plural enormities)

1. (obsolete) Deviation from what is normal or standard; irregularity, abnormality.
2. (uncountable) Deviation from moral normality; extreme wickedness, nefariousness, or cruelty. [from 15th c.]
3. (countable) A breach of law or morality; a transgression, an act of evil or wickedness. [from 15th c.]
4. (uncountable) Great size; enormousness, hugeness, immenseness. [from 18th c.]

Usage notes

Enormity as a synonym for enormousness is sometimes considered an error, though other usage guides hold that there is little basis for the distinction. Both words ultimately go back to the same Latin source word ?n?rmis meaning “deviating from the norm, abnormal”.

Synonyms

• (deviation from what is normal or standard): anomalousness, oddness, weirdness; see also Thesaurus:strangeness
• (deviation from moral normality): atrociousness, depravity, immorality; see also Thesaurus:villainy
• (a breach of law or morality): desecration, violation
• (great size): immensity, prodigiousness

Related terms

Translations

References