Definition of SUFFICIENT

Choose the Right Synonym for sufficient

sufficient, enough, adequate, competent mean being what is necessary or desirable. sufficient suggests a close meeting of a need. sufficient savings enough is less exact in suggestion than sufficient. do you have enough food? adequate may imply barely meeting a requirement. the service was adequate competent suggests measuring up to all requirements without question or being adequately adapted to an end. had no competent notion of what was going on

Examples of sufficient in a Sentence

Considering that John Adams was notoriously insecure about his own place in history, he surely would have enjoyed his current renown. He and Abigail get pride of place in the family crypt, down a winding staircase in the church basement. On her plaque in the crypt, she is described as a "model of domestic worth," as though she were a particularly charming chifforobe, and not a woman who survived a troubled marriage with sufficient courage that both houses of Congress adjourned upon hearing of her death. — Charles P. Pierce, Boston Globe Magazine, 26 July 2009 Because canines are, for the most part, unable to naturally manufacture sufficient vitamins to meet their daily requirements, a dog's routinely consumed meals, with some exceptions, must be augmented with them during the manufacturing process. — Tom Ewing, Dog Watch, February 2009 And since this policy is usually accompanied by a pledge to provide sufficient scholarship funds to admitted applicants who cannot afford the full cost (around $45,000 in the Ivy League today), it is an expensive policy. — Andrew Delbanco, New York Review of Books, 29 Mar. 2007 The result was a magnificent example of evidence overkill—the first set of prints alone was sufficient to match the gangbanger to a set in the national Automated Fingerprint Identification System database. — Jessica Snyder Sachs, Popular Science, March 2004 A brisk walk is sufficient to raise your heart rate. There must be sufficient funds in your bank account to cover the check. Her explanation was not sufficient to satisfy the police.

Recent Examples on the Web

The idea came about to restore it as a functional, self-sufficient escape, with heat and electricity. — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, "How To Live Off the Grid," 10 June 2019 Long-term journeys will require humans to be almost completely self-sufficient — meaning food, nutrients and even building materials would have to be grown in space. — Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, "Long-term space journeys to allow humans to become almost completely self-sufficient," 8 June 2019 Eventually, Roodt says, there will be self-sufficient communities like his across South Africa, maybe even the world. — Gregory Barber, WIRED, "Inside an All-White Town’s Divisive Experiment With Cryptocurrency," 6 June 2019 Relationships, especially the good ones, aren’t about being completely self-sufficient. — Esme Mazzeo, Glamour, "To Convince Dates My Wheelchair Isn't A Burden, I First Had to Convince Myself," 16 May 2019 The Powertrain Power comes from a reworked version of the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, as seen in the 720S, with sufficient changes to have been awarded a new design code: M840TE. — Mike Duff, Car and Driver, "The 2020 McLaren GT Is a Mid-Engined Supercar Built for Luxurious Grand Touring," 15 May 2019 If the job has been exhausting, then 15 to 20 percent of the total cost of the move is sufficient. — Nikhita Mahtani, House Beautiful, "How Much Should I Tip for This Service?," 30 Apr. 2019 Whether the deal can survive without the U.S. depends on whether Tehran continues to receive sufficient economic benefits by way of business with the Europeans. — Josh Lederman, Fox News, "US intensifies pressure on Iran, sanctioning central banker," 16 May 2018 Antonio Vitiello reported on Twitter that the club will have to offload some midfielders in order to make room in the squad for the youngster, with the depth of midfielders already sufficient enough. — SI.com, "Max Meyer's Representatives Spotted in Milan Ahead of Proposed Move to I Rossoneri," 20 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sufficient.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for sufficient

Middle English sufficiant, sufficient, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French suffisant, sufficient, in part from present participle of suffire "to suffice," in part borrowed from Latin sufficient-, sufficiens, from present participle of sufficere "to have enough strength or capacity, be adequate" — more at suffice

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