Immenses

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Too large or great to be measured or comprehended; extremely vast in size, quantity, or extent; describing something that is boundless in scope or magnitude
2. Characterized by a scale that is overwhelming or unfathomable; possessing dimensions far beyond ordinary limits; indicating an enormous degree or degree of significance
3. Denoting an extraordinary size or quantity that is difficult to grasp; encompassing a vastness that exceeds normal understanding; reflecting an immensity that can be both physical and abstract in nature

Etymology: "Immenses" is simply the plural form of "immense," so its history is that of the adjective. "Immense" came into English from Old French "immense," which in turn came from Latin "immensus," built from "in-," meaning "not," and "mensus," meaning "measured." The literal sense was therefore "unmeasured," something too large to have been gauged by any standard of measure. The Latin root "metiri," to measure, also gave English words like "measure" and "mensuration," so "immense" sits in the same family as those more everyday terms. The negative prefix does the work: a thing that cannot be measured is, in practice, beyond any normal limit. The same logic appears in "incommensurable," a close relative built on the same measuring root.

Synonyms: enormous, huge, vast, gigantic, colossal

Antonyms: tiny, small, minute, minuscule, little