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.
Further analysis showed that their brown fat lacked proper nerve structure and an adequate network of blood vessels.
From Science Daily • Mar. 28, 2026
Instead, the Fed’s current bond buying is meant to make sure that banks have access to an adequate level of reserves, a type of currency used for bank-to-bank payments and banks’ other daily needs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026
Boutcher said his concerns about adequate police resourcing stemmed from how officers managed the case of extreme online abuser Alexander McCartney.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026
The US Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday issued a temporary emergency waiver to allow countrywide sales of higher-ethanol fuel in the summer, Administrator Lee Zeldin said, easing smog controls amid government concerns about adequate supply.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
He had never before allowed that I was anything more than adequate.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
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.
