adequate
Americanadjective
-
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
-
barely sufficient or suitable.
Being adequate is not good enough.
-
Law. reasonably sufficient for starting legal action.
adequate grounds.
adjective
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
AI companies are rushing to release consumer health applications without adequate safety testing and regulatory oversight, driven by commercial competition rather than clinical readiness.
From Los Angeles Times
Older adults still require adequate protein, vitamin B12, calcium and vitamin D - especially to preserve muscle mass and prevent frailty.
From Science Daily
It also would have been one of the greatest threats to his survival, since without adequate cold weather gear, Freeman could have frozen to death.
From BBC
The Cuban people are living under dire conditions, without electricity, with little food, with garbage piled up on the streets and without adequate medical care.
“You have an adequate understanding of the connection between the past defects and choices that you made that led to criminality and ultimately to the commitment offense,” a commissioner said to Funston.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions 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.
