adequately
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adequately
Explanation
Something has been done adequately when basic requirements are fulfilled. Passing your driver's test probably means you parallel parked adequately; if not, you may have knocked over some cones. The adverb adequately is a synonym for sufficiently, or suitably. If you've adequately fulfilled your course requirements, you're probably neither the best nor the worst student in the class. But you've definitely done well enough that you can pass — so doing something adequately is generally a positive thing, unless you're an overachiever, in which case you might not like that description at all!
Vocabulary lists containing adequately
The Giver
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Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
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Word Generation Weekly - Series 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The North has long been criticised for prioritising the military over adequately providing for its people.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
A classified 2024 report flagged the ministry for failing to adequately secure foreign carriers’ flights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
She claimed that Cornell failed to protect her or adequately punish the men, who have now become known as the Cornell Seven.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Every law-enforcement and justice institution serving the Cornell and Ithaca communities should ask whether its personnel are adequately trained in gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2026
There wasn’t enough staff, food, or medicine to adequately care for any of them.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
