suffice

[ suh-fahys, -fahyz ]

/ səˈfaɪs, -ˈfaɪz /

verb (used without object), suf·ficed, suf·fic·ing.

to be enough or adequate, as for needs, purposes, etc.

verb (used with object), suf·ficed, suf·fic·ing.

to be enough or adequate for; satisfy.

Nearby words

suffer fools gladly, sufferable, sufferance, suffering, suffern, suffice, suffice it to say, sufficiency, sufficient, sufficient condition, sufficient reason

Origin of suffice

1275–1325; Middle English sufficen < Latin sufficere to supply, suffice, equivalent to suf- suf- + -ficere, combining form of facere to make, do¹; replacing Middle English suffisen < Old French < Latin, as above

Related forms

un·suf·fic·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sufficed

Any sharp objects would have sufficed, particularly when coupled with the bluff of having a bomb.
TSA Says Yes to Small Knives, Then No—What’s the Problem?|Patrick Smith|April 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Its lofty morality would not alone have sufficed to insure its success.
The Unseen World and Other Essays|John Fiske
What chains, what prison, what gibbets had sufficed thereunto?
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio|Giovanni Boccaccio
A year, nay, even a few years would not have sufficed for such a change.
Strange Stories|Grant Allen

But Southwark ought to have sufficed to satisfy the ambition of a clown.
The Man Who Laughs|Victor Hugo
Yet two minutes sufficed to clear the decks of the Chesapeake, and the few visible survivors were thrown down the hatchways.
The Fight for a Free Sea: A Chronicle of the War of 1812|Ralph D. Paine

British Dictionary definitions for sufficed

suffice

/ (səˈfaɪs) /

verb

to be adequate or satisfactory for (something)

suffice it to say that (takes a clause as object) let us say no more than that; I shall just say that

Derived Forms

sufficer, noun

Word Origin for suffice

C14: from Old French suffire, from Latin sufficere from sub- below + facere to make

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

suffice

verb (used without object), suf·ficed, suf·fic·ing.

verb (used with object), suf·ficed, suf·fic·ing.

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Nearby words

Origin of suffice

Related forms

Examples from the Web for sufficed

British Dictionary definitions for sufficed

suffice

verb

Derived Forms

Word Origin for suffice