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 10 paintings with explanatory wall labels would be, to my mind, perfectly self-sufficient without them. — Peter Plagens, WSJ, "‘Charline von Heyl: Snake Eyes’ Review: A Pro in Need of Poetry," 18 Dec. 2018 Most levels and most LDAs, especially in these early days of DERs, are far from fully self-sufficient and will be for some time. — David Roberts, Vox, "Clean energy technologies threaten to overwhelm the grid. Here’s how it can adapt.," 30 Nov. 2018 Probes that travel with their own small data relays are obviously more self-sufficient as one-off missions. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "Why Mars InSight Will Be a Mission of Firsts," 23 Nov. 2018 Despite the fears about NATO’s future, most countries are still spending far too little on defense to be self-sufficient if they were stripped of U.S. protection. — Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post, "Ahead of NATO summit, allies wonder: Will NATO survive Trump?," 8 July 2018 This isn't sufficient to determine the structure down to the atomic detail. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Researchers make RAM from a phase change we don’t entirely understand," 18 Dec. 2018 Dorrie O’Brien, another precinct chair allied with Mr. Fowler, voiced concern that Dr. Shafi hadn’t expressed sufficient support for Israel and has raised questions about whether he was connected to terrorist groups. — Dan Frosch, WSJ, "Muslim GOP Leader Targeted by Party Activists in Texas," 14 Dec. 2018 Your doctor may have explained this, but as a refresher: Dry eye happens when the amount or quality of your tears isn’t sufficient. — Korin Miller, SELF, "So Your Doctor Says You Have Dry Eye? Here Are 8 Treatment Options to Know," 13 Dec. 2018 To make the filling for one pie, boil and wash a sufficient quantity of chestnuts to yield one-half pint of pulp. — Marley Marius, Vogue, "7 Alternative Thanksgiving Desserts from the Vogue Archive," 16 Nov. 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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