adequate

American  

[ad-i-kwit] / ˈæd ɪ kwɪt /

adjective

1. as much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose; fully sufficient, suitable, or fit (often followed by to orfor ).

   This car is adequate to our needs.

   They’ll provide adequate food for fifty people.

   Synonyms:

   capable, enough, sufficient, competent, satisfactory

2. barely sufficient or suitable.

   Being adequate is not good enough.

3. Law. reasonably sufficient for starting legal action.

   adequate grounds.

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adequate British  

/ ˈædɪkwəsɪ, ˈædɪkwɪt /

adjective

1. able to fulfil a need or requirement without being abundant, outstanding, etc

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Other Word Forms

• adequacy noun
• adequately adverb
• adequateness noun
• preadequate adjective
• preadequateness noun
• quasi-adequate adjective
• superadequate adjective
• superadequateness noun

Etymology

Origin of adequate

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin adaequātus “matched” (past participle of adaequāre ); ad-, equal, -ate ¹

Example Sentences

Nonetheless, after the beating stocks have taken, suddenly 7000 on the S&P 500 sounds aspirational rather than merely adequate.

From Barron's

Speaking to the BBC, Kebede said "we all support" a desire for more inclusion, but "there is just not the adequate funding or staffing levels to meet that aspiration".

From BBC

Binderbauer says he sees a pathway to adequate energy confinement and is confident in TAE’s technology and experience building complex machines.

From The Wall Street Journal

Further analysis showed that their brown fat lacked proper nerve structure and an adequate network of blood vessels.

From Science Daily

The rules are intended to implement an international agreement known as Basel III, reached after the 2008 financial crisis to ensure banks worldwide maintain adequate buffers.

From Barron's

Related Words

• acceptable
• capable
• competent
• decent
• fair
• satisfactory
• sufficient
• suitable
• tolerable