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Definition of enoughnext
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enough

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adjective

enough

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noun

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective enough contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of enough are adequate, competent, and sufficient. While all these words mean "being what is necessary or desirable," enough is less exact in suggestion than sufficient.

do you have enough food?

When would adequate be a good substitute for enough?

Although the words adequate and enough have much in common, adequate may imply barely meeting a requirement.

the service was adequate

When is it sensible to use competent instead of enough?

The words competent and enough can be used in similar contexts, but 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

When is sufficient a more appropriate choice than enough?

The synonyms sufficient and enough are sometimes interchangeable, but sufficient suggests a close meeting of a need.

sufficient savings

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of enough
Adverb
The breathable, relaxed-fitting bottoms are substantial enough to wear on the plane and work just as well over a bathing suit on the beach or with a pair of sneakers for a day of sightseeing. Melony Forcier, Travel + Leisure, 7 June 2026 Gallner, meanwhile, keeps Oliver just unknowable enough to sustain an edgy crackle of tension. Guy Lodge, Variety, 7 June 2026
Adjective
Update your emergency kit and be sure to include enough food and water to last for 3 days for each person in your home. Southern California Weather Report, Daily News, 8 June 2026 Humanity has littered the sky with the refuse of fossil fuel use, releasing enough CO2 to change the planet’s climate. ArsTechnica, 8 June 2026
Noun
But the Celtics haven’t done enough of that. Tony Jones, New York Times, 1 May 2026 If Pavia doesn't do enough on the field in Baltimore to garner some type of contract, his representation will start fielding other calls. Trey Wallace Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for enough
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enough
Adverb
  • In particular, grass that has not been sufficiently fertilized and watered tends to lose out to clover and other weeds over time.
    David Beaulieu, The Spruce, 6 June 2026
  • On Tuesday, the conservative majority came back saying the lower court did not sufficiently consider its Louisiana redistricting decision, which requires judges to largely defer to states’ partisan interests in drawing maps that benefit the majority party.
    Kaylah Jackson, NBC news, 3 June 2026
Adverb
  • The service Like pretty much everything at this hotel, the service is both smart and discreet—not fawning, but preemptive and always on alert.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 June 2026
  • That's a pretty good player to have mic'd up.
    Andrew Greif, NBC news, 4 June 2026
Adverb
  • However, xGC estimates that even with Lionel Messi, their roster doesn’t quite contain the same threat as teams like France and Spain.
    Ethan Douglas, New York Times, 10 June 2026
  • There's nothing quite like growing a classic apple tree (Malus domestica) in your garden.
    SJ McShane, Martha Stewart, 9 June 2026
Adjective
  • The cycle persists because, at every link, those involved have had reasons that felt sufficient to them in the moment.
    Bruce Sibley, Time, 29 May 2026
  • One challenge the league ran into this year was that the mechanisms for investigating and enforcing tanking weren’t sufficient to the task and weren’t enough to deter tanking.
    John Hollinger, New York Times, 29 May 2026
Noun
  • Some have raised concerns about the cleanup’s sufficiency.
    Michelle de la Uz, New York Daily News, 13 May 2026
  • To issue an Amber Alert, law enforcement must determine that specific statutory conditions are met, including the age of the child, law enforcement’s belief in imminent danger of serious injury or death, and the sufficiency of existing information to assist in recovery.
    Itay Ravid, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2026
Adverb
  • Some said the city failed to adequately seek public outreach and ignored their concerns about potential harm to turtle nests.
    Steve Bousquet, Sun Sentinel, 6 June 2026
  • The Middle East is also seeing severe hunger in Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen but without enough funding to adequately help.
    William Lambers, Hartford Courant, 6 June 2026
Adverb
  • Another possible factor in Martinez’s lead other than City Hall backlash could be his relatively strong name recognition in District 8.
    David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 June 2026
  • At subsonic speeds, the airflow over an airframe consists of relatively smooth, though complex, streams.
    David Szondy June 04, New Atlas, 4 June 2026
Adverb
  • The book is a poetry collection structured in three acts with seven players, each assigned a color of the rainbow and an apparition’s name, each of whom needs an audience to fully exist.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 29 May 2026
  • But critics questioned if the arrangement fully addressed the core national security concerns that motivated the TikTok ban legislation in the first place because ByteDance was set to retain control of some of the US app’s operations.
    Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 29 May 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Enough.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enough. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.

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