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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 end of summer is in sight, and the idea of going back to focusing fully on work or school is just close enough to give every day a Sunday scaries feel. Emily Olsen, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2026 Its average surface temperature is about 464°C, hot enough to melt lead. Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 11 Aug. 2026
Adjective
Yet for the next wave of graduates at Anfield, Quansah’s story is a reminder that one decent summer is enough to kickstart a career. James Pearce, New York Times, 12 Aug. 2026 The Wrong Girls is slight in everything from its runtime (100 minutes) to its emotions (mostly chill), but Meyer packs their connection with enough backstory and texture to give it real heft. Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 12 Aug. 2026
Noun
If anything, Nedivi and Wolpert wonder whether the show does enough to capture how crazy some of the early Soviet missions to space actually were. Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 14 July 2026 His biggest failure has been not doing enough to address the affordability crisis facing working families. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Sun Sentinel, 9 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for enough
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enough
Adverb
  • Intervene Intervene means several signals—or one sufficiently consequential event—indicate probable deterioration or unacceptable outcomes.
    Gerald J. Leonard, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • In nearly every case, Murrill’s office has insisted that the exoneree either is guilty or has failed to sufficiently prove his innocence.
    Richard A. Webster, ProPublica, 6 Aug. 2026
Adverb
  • Located in the heart of the Marais, a restaurant at the Centre Pompidou would have to be pretty special to compete against all the excellent neighboring options.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Aug. 2026
  • And his arm is pretty good — like, throwing a spiral 67 yards good.
    Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2026
Adverb
  • But none of the more precise terms quite roll off the tongue.
    Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026
  • That’s true even as there’s been a steady clip of cyberattacks on the United States and other countries, some of them quite alarming, and even as a new, more powerful AI model is released by an American or Chinese lab seemingly every week.
    Jen Easterly, Foreign Affairs, 6 Aug. 2026
Adjective
  • That's important because Market Street, which used to be downtown Inglewood, died for a number of reasons, but in large part because there was not sufficient parking.
    Lauren Pozen, CBS News, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Ski resorts at higher elevations have received sufficient snowfall but those at lower elevations in the region have thus far been forced to make artificial snow all season.
    Marshall Shepherd, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Since then, the case has remained in the pleading stage, where the county has challenged the sufficiency of the claims without answering them, and the child’s attorneys have revised their complaint three times.
    Bay City News, Mercury News, 1 Aug. 2026
  • This freedom includes the expression of health, harmony, sufficiency, and the ability to think and act rightly.
    Rob Nofsinger, Christian Science Monitor, 10 July 2026
Adverb
  • But the objective, baseline, aggregation method, or definition of acceptable performance does not adequately represent what customers experience.
    Gerald J. Leonard, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The worst incident, by far, is the failure of the Smithsonian to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s birth adequately, making little notice of the event.
    Rob Crilly, The Washington Examiner, 7 Aug. 2026
Adverb
  • Schrell examined whether annual production campaigns would be more effective, but concluded that the approach would not make economic or operational sense because of costs, limited hot-cell capacity and the isotope’s relatively short half-life.
    Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Unlike many other regions, Australian largetooth sawfish appear to have maintained relatively stable genetic diversity since at least the 1960s.
    Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
Adverb
  • Trade data show China has fully transitioned from providing mostly low cost manufacturing to supplying vital machinery and components for advanced manufacturing.
    ABC News, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026
  • In Hrubec’s lab, the malformations took a different form — neural tube defects similar to spina bifida in humans, in which parts of the spinal column fail to close, or anencephaly, where the skull and brain never fully develop.
    Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Enough.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enough. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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