sufficient

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective sufficient contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of sufficient are adequate, competent, and enough. While all these words mean "being what is necessary or desirable," sufficient suggests a close meeting of a need.

sufficient savings

When might adequate be a better fit than sufficient?

The synonyms adequate and sufficient are sometimes interchangeable, but adequate may imply barely meeting a requirement.

the service was adequate

Where would competent be a reasonable alternative to sufficient?

Although the words competent and sufficient have much in common, 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

How are the words enough and sufficient related?

Enough is less exact in suggestion than sufficient.

do you have enough food?

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 sufficient All three are necessary and none is sufficient on its own. Big Think, 18 Oct. 2025 The petition follows the 2025 lineup announcement, which organizers feel lacks sufficient representation of homegrown talent. Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 18 Oct. 2025 Much could depend on whether quarterback Sam Leavitt is fit to return after injury kept him out against the Utes, though even his return may not be sufficient to stem the tide. Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Oct. 2025 An Intel Ultra 7 CPU and 16GB of RAM are a combination sufficient for productivity tasks such as document generation and launching applications with a healthy dose of multitasking. PC Magazine, 17 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sufficient
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sufficient
Adjective
  • Controversy arose earlier this year after residents, a council member and the mayor declared a cooling station set up for homeless residents and others without adequate heating and cooling as unacceptable.
    Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Make sure to eat a balanced diet and get adequate calories when exercising intensely.
    Wendy Wisner, Health, 24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Bowie is quite wonderful as Tesla — mysterious, exotic yet somehow the film’s most reasonable man —while Andy Serkis as his assistant brings sly comedy to an otherwise morbidly serious affair.
    Kirk Honeycutt, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2025
  • If a landlord or property owner has a reasonable suspicion of a safety concern, such as a health emergency or damage to a residential property, they are allowed to enter without notice.
    Tamia Fowlkes, jsonline.com, 20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Some believe there’s a spectrum of acceptable phone-at-the-dinner table habits.
    Li Goldstein, Bon Appetit Magazine, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Yet, the general principles of this diet are a blend of vegetarian and Mediterranean diets, two of the patterns mentioned as acceptable for people with type 2 diabetes.
    Jennifer Lefton, Verywell Health, 23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Overall, the sound quality is comparable to that of a basic Bluetooth speaker—more than satisfactory for an AIO PC.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 15 Oct. 2025
  • According to a poll conducted by the company, eight out of 10 users were happy with the experience, while another one in five described it as satisfactory.
    Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • But Gault always knew there’d be food on the table and heat making winter nights tolerable.
    Jeff Pearlman, Rolling Stone, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Having a good boss Knowing your supervisor has your best interests in mind and having a good relationship with them can make an otherwise not-so-great job downright tolerable.
    William Vanderbloemen, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • That’s just a decent dude, right there.
    Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The opening sequence — involving a scared little boy whose fear only accelerates during a nightmarish car ride — is a decent bellwether for the first five episodes (which is all that were screened for critics, of the eight total).
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 22 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sufficient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sufficient. Accessed 27 Oct. 2025.

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