satisfactory
[sat-is-fak-tuh-ree, -fak-tree]
- giving or affording satisfaction; fulfilling all demands or requirements: a satisfactory solution.
- Theology. atoning or expiating.
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Origin of satisfactory
1520–30; < Medieval Latin satisfactōrius, equivalent to Latin satisfac(ere) to do enough + -tōrius -tory1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for satisfactory on Thesaurus.com1. competent, adequate, suitable, passable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for satisfactory
Contemporary Examples
There are several independent research programs but the origin of life does not have a satisfactory explanation at present.
Some insurers are limiting it to patients who have tried the older drugs, but failed to get satisfactory results.
Many have experienced phenomena that, however creepy, admit a satisfactory explanation.
There should be no provisional status until we have locked down our borders and implemented E-Verify in a satisfactory manner.
We never got a satisfactory response from anyone at the embassy or in the State Department.
Abandoned Ship: New Book Details Honeymooners’ Costa Concordia NightmareBarbie Latza Nadeau
January 10, 2013
Historical Examples
Here too experience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its favor.
We do not understand them at all, but they are highly soothing and satisfactory.
(a) What are the requirements for satisfactory types of jars?
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Cheap jars are likely to be seconds and will not prove so satisfactory.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Kingozi, watching her closely, seemed to see in this only a satisfactory symptom.
The Leopard WomanStewart Edward White
satisfactory
- adequate or suitable; acceptablea satisfactory answer
- giving satisfaction
- constituting or involving atonement, recompense, or expiation for sin
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for satisfactory
adj.
mid-15c., "capable of atoning for sin," from Middle French satisfactoire (14c.) and directly from Late Latin satisfactorius, from Latin satisfactus, past participle of satisfacere (see satisfy). Meaning "adequate" is from 1630s. Related: Satisfactorily; satisfactoriness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper