adequate

[ ad-i-kwit ]
/ ˈæd ɪ kwɪt /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR adequate ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

as much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose; fully sufficient, suitable, or fit (often followed by to or for): This car is adequate to our needs. adequate food for fifty people.
barely sufficient or suitable: Being adequate is not good enough.
Law. reasonably sufficient for starting legal action: adequate grounds.

Origin of adequate

1610–20; < Latin adaequātus matched (past participle of adaequāre). See ad-, equal, -ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM adequate

Words nearby adequate

adeodatus i, adeodatus ii, adephagia, adept, adequacy, adequate, adequate stimulus, adermia, adermogenesis, adessive, adf

Words related to adequateness

saturation, completeness, wholeness, totality, profusion, surfeit, swelling, glut, vastness, repletion, broadness, dilation, fill, completion, wealth, copiousness, entirety, sufficiency, scope, plenitude

Example sentences from the Web for adequateness

  • For the object must be given in experience, and the question relates to the adequateness of the object to an idea.

    The Critique of Pure Reason |Immanuel Kant

British Dictionary definitions for adequateness

adequate
/ (ˈædɪkwɪt) /

adjective

able to fulfil a need or requirement without being abundant, outstanding, etc

Derived forms of adequate

adequacy (ˈædɪkwəsɪ), noun adequately, adverb

Word Origin for adequate

C17: from Latin adaequāre to equalize, from ad- to + aequus equal