sufficient

adjective

suf·​fi·​cient sə-ˈfi-shənt 

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

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 plant, located in Hartsville, South Carolina, generates 759 megawatts of electricity, which is a capacity sufficient to power approximately 570,000 homes. —Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Apr. 2026

The Meta-Amazon deal announced on Friday is the latest Big Tech tie-up as the industry scrambles to secure sufficient processors to power new and future AI models. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026

Companies need to communicate innovation with sufficient clarity and discipline to avoid turning their words into legal risk. —Perrie M. Weiner, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2026

Signs Tomatoes Are Planted Too Close Together Unfortunately, not giving your tomato plants sufficient space will backfire sooner or later in the growing season. —Nadia Hassani, The Spruce, 23 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing sufficient

• self-sufficient
• sufficient condition

Rhymes for sufficient

• deficient
• efficient
• omniscient
• proficient
• beneficent
• coefficient
• inefficient
• insufficient

Kids Definition

sufficient

adjective

suf·​fi·​cient sə-ˈfish-ənt 

: enough to achieve a goal or fill a need

sufficiently adverb

Legal Definition

sufficient

adjective

suf·​fi·​cient

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

sufficiently adverb