immensity

noun

im·​men·​si·​ty i-ˈmen(t)-sə-tē How to pronounce immensity (audio)
plural immensities
1
: the quality or state of being immense
2
: something immense

Examples of immensity in a Sentence

the immensity of the universe She couldn't understand the immensity of their problem.
Recent Examples on the Web These stick figures remind me of fishermen in an old Japanese woodblock print, their histories and identities dissolved by the low light and the immensity of their stage. Chandrahas Choudhury, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Mar. 2024 Another Puerto Rican Broadway luminary, composer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, expressed his love for Rivera and the immensity of the loss. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 30 Jan. 2024 People travel there to be awed by the immensity of nature. Jen Murphy, Travel + Leisure, 19 Jan. 2024 On that bright January morning, the hydrofoil slipped through a narrow strait and the full immensity of the 3,200-square-mile lake — nearly half of which is in Bolivia, the rest in Peru — came into view. Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023 Nothing inspires immensity on the part of documentary filmmakers quite like the Nazis. Zachary Barnes, WSJ, 28 Dec. 2023 The immensity of the Sinai Desert forced the survivors to remain in the enclave. Jean-Pierre Filiu, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2024 Changing employers’ minds The immensity of the CTE funding gap is indicative of the magnitude of the challenge ahead: America’s college-for-all fixation can’t be stopped by fiddling with the current system. Rick Wartzman, Fortune, 14 Dec. 2023 The immensity of the optics required to image exo-Earth analogues would make HWO supremely useful for many other astronomical tasks, too—similar to its workhorse predecessors such as NASA’s Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 6 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'immensity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of immensity was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near immensity

Cite this Entry

“Immensity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/immensity. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

immensity

noun
im·​men·​si·​ty im-ˈen(t)-sət-ē How to pronounce immensity (audio)
plural immensities
1
: the quality or state of being immense
2
: something immense

More from Merriam-Webster on immensity

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