sufficient

adjective suf·fi·cient \ sə-ˈfi-shənt \

Definition of sufficient

1 a :enough to meet the needs of a situation or a proposed end

sufficient provisions for a month

b :being a sufficient condition

2 archaic :qualified, competent

—

sufficiently

adverb

See sufficient defined for English-language learners

See sufficient defined for kids

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 of sufficient from the Web

Gerboth said the group brought enough food and other supplies to be self sufficient for up to a week. .

— karen kucher, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Firefighters from San Diego County arrive in Texas to help," 28 Aug. 2017
The range would also be sufficient to reach Seongju, a South Korean town where the United States has begun installing an advanced missile-defense system known as Thaad.

— choe sang-hun, New York Times, "North Korea Used Multiple-Rocket Launchers to Test Missiles," 26 Aug. 2017
The U.S. is withholding $195 million for now because Secretary of State Rex Tillerson couldn’t certify that Egypt had made sufficient progress on human rights and democracy.

— nick wadhams, Bloomberg.com, "Egypt Slams U.S. for Withholding Aid as Kushner Visits Cairo," 23 Aug. 2017
For roads with less than 19,000 cars a day, one lane in each direction is sufficient, according to transportation experts cited by the coalition.

— mary wisniewski, chicagotribune.com, "Homeless group close to suit over bike path plan in Uptown," 20 Aug. 2017
That is sufficient for human-level perception and mechanical control.

— bill huang, Scientific American Blog Network, "Robots with Their Heads in the Clouds," 2 Aug. 2017
Unemployment is significantly higher for people of color, the city has failed to enact a sufficient minimum wage, and inept government assistance programs continue to discourage upward mobility for the poor.

— martese johnson, Teen Vogue, "Gun Violence in Chicago Took My Friend's Life," 1 Aug. 2017
Any eruption of sufficient power to provoke such a flood would also have been big enough to precipitate a temporary change in the world’s climate of the sort that Radbertus reports.

— The Economist, "VolcanologyEvents in Iceland explain years of famine in Europe’s Dark Ages," 18 July 2017
Lloyd McKee, who was behind the controls, could not gain sufficient altitude, causing the plane to slam into a tower at the XSport Fitness health center southeast of 75th Street and Route 59, in the plane's flightpath.

— bill bird, Naperville Sun, "At 60, Naperville's 'airpark' subdivision still flying," 15 July 2017

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.

Origin and Etymology of sufficient

Middle English, from Latin sufficient-, sufficiens, from present participle of sufficere — see suffice

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First Known Use: 14th century

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Synonym Discussion of 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

SUFFICIENT Defined for English Language Learners

sufficient

adjective

Definition of sufficient for English Language Learners

: having or providing as much as is needed

SUFFICIENT Defined for Kids

sufficient

adjective suf·fi·cient \ sə-ˈfi-shənt \

Definition of sufficient for Students

:enough to achieve a goal or fill a need

sufficient evidence

—

sufficiently

adverb

Law Dictionary

sufficient

adjective suf·fi·cient

legal Definition of sufficient

:enough to meet the needs under the law of a situation or a proposed end

—

sufficiently

adverb

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SUFFICIENT Defined for English Language Learners

sufficient

Definition of sufficient for English Language Learners

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sufficient

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sufficiently

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sufficient

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sufficiently

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