sufficiency
Americannoun
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the state or fact of being sufficient; adequacy.
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a sufficient number or amount; enough.
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adequate provision or supply, especially of wealth.
noun
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the quality or condition of being sufficient
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an adequate amount or quantity, as of income
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archaic efficiency
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sufficiency
1485–95; < Late Latin sufficientia; see sufficient, -ency
Explanation
A sufficiency is an adequate amount of something. Before a winter storm, you should probably make sure you have a sufficiency of food stored in your house. The noun sufficiency means the quality of being enough, adequate, or sufficient. Due to financial constraints, your local school district may be willing to settle for educational sufficiency, but hopefully you will hold the district to a higher standard than offering merely an adequate education to students. The opposite of sufficiency is insufficiency, meaning an inadequate amount. Of the two, you will likely hear insufficiency more often than sufficiency in conversation.
Vocabulary lists containing sufficiency
Skellig
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The Classical Period, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE
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2.1: Classical Empires in East Asia (Sources 1–8)
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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.
They also reported bigger drops in food sufficiency among adults ages 25 to 44, who tend to be higher-propensity sport bettors compared with other age groups.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 10, 2026
“Take your best crack at articulating what standards a court would apply when reviewing the sufficiency of the consultation.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
They said this was due to the lack of a joint strategic needs assessment, sufficiency plans to address this issue have not been adequate or timely.
From BBC • Nov. 15, 2024
Earth Stewardship and Biocultural Diversity recognise these values but also stress relational values of nature or 'nature as society'; and Degrowth straddles these types of values, prioritising sufficiency and redistribution.
From Science Daily • May 17, 2024
Buttercup was searching somewhere for a sufficiency of courage.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
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.
