Adjective

(en adjective)

(obsolete)  Deviating from the norm; unusual, extraordinary.

*, New York 2001, p.105:

all shall be rather enforced than hindered, except they be dismembered, or grievously deformed, infirm, or visited with some enormous hereditary disease is body or mind.

(obsolete)  Exceedingly wicked; atrocious or outrageous.

*, II.12:

how apt wee are to receive all impressions, and chiefly the most wicked and enormous .

Extremely large; greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.}}

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.}}

Adjective

(en adjective)

Of high value or worth, or seemingly regarded as such.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author=(Polly Toynbee)

, volume=189, issue=10, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Britain's booming birthrate , passage=People are a good thing, the most precious resource in a rich economy, so the progressive-minded feel. Only misanthropists disagree or the dottier Malthusians who send green-ink tweets deploring any state assistance for child-rearing.}}

Regarded with love or tenderness.

(pejorative) Treated with too much reverence.

(pejorative) Contrived to be cute or charming.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 24, author=Nathan Rabin, work=The Onion AV Club

, title= Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3 , passage=In the abstract, Stuhlbarg’s twinkly-eyed sidekick suggests Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 by way of late-period Robin Williams with an alien twist, but Stuhlbarg makes a character that easily could have come across as precious into a surprisingly palatable, even charming man.}}