Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To meet present needs or requirements; be sufficient: These rations will suffice until next week.
- v. To be equal to a specified task; be capable: No words will suffice to convey my grief.
- v. To satisfy the needs or requirements of; be enough for.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To be sufficient for.
- To satisfy; content; be equal to the wants or demands of.
- To afford in sufficient amount; supply adequately.
- To be enough or sufficient; be equal to the end proposed; be adequate.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive To be enough or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate.
- v. transitive To satisfy; to content; to be equal to the wants or demands of.
- v. To furnish; to supply adequately.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate.
- v. To satisfy; to content; to be equal to the wants or demands of.
- v. obsolete To furnish; to supply adequately.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be sufficient; be adequate, either in quality or quantity
Etymologies
- From Middle English suffisen, from Middle French souffire, from Latin sufficiō ("supply, be adequate"), from sub ("under") + faciō ("do, make"). Cognate with French suffire. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English suffisen, from Old French suffire, suffis-, from Latin sufficere : sub-, sub- + facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And I do think that the use of spanking when less aggressive measures will suffice is worrisome – if a talking-to or time-out would do the trick, why HIT?”
“What would suffice is a gapless pathway where there all chains of development have proof-of-concept established from random variation and natural selection.”
“Even if it's for the other Democrat nominee ... this idea that ANY republican candidate will suffice is getting ridiculous!”
“Your premise that a mere indictment will suffice is incorrect.”
“Satisfy plus suffice, which is to say good enough.”
“No concordance to the English Catholic Bible has been published, and it can hardly be said that one is much needed, except for the deutero-canonical books; the late concordances in English suffice, with the exception noted, for the needs of any intelligent reader.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery
“Doth not what strait we are in suffice us, but you must make water upon us?’”
“Does not my word suffice? "contemptuously retorted the duke.”
“Without quoting from all, let the following lengthy extract suffice, which is from Buchanan:”
An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America
“Would not one word suffice to dispel their solicitude, and restore the lost one to their arms?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘suffice’.
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Trending words
A place to list the words which are trending on Wordnik right now.
cat, infertility, jelly shoes, totally disagree, wish, Dam troll, weyant, camphorous, rayah, canorous, agree, kaisersmarrn and 75 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
everythingecstatic's Words
cadence, frenetic, eloquence, paradigm, nocturne, elusive, effervescence, soliloquy, plethora, elision, aqueous, transcend and 166 more...
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chibiryuu's Words
sugary, amalgam, zaftig, incommensurability, isomorphism, fold, awesome, cute, hack, dichotomy, pyrrhic, bifurcate and 89 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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worddom
put words in their place
theca, wisdom, kingdom, freedom, boredom, seldom, martyrdom, abdomen, doom, samhita, duma, dumka and 151 more...
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2011 July
New words
correspondent, promulgate, transgress, trite, ravine, corespondent, contrivance, contrive, expedient, conducive, clairvoyance, difform and 184 more...
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Tory's First Wordie List
perambulate, mumpsimus, euphoric, peripatetic, mellifluous, soporific, neologism, nihilism, nepotism, effervescent, lascivious, esoteric and 217 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2041 more...
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MsHalston's Words
theoretically, insufferable, apolitico, milquetoast, egregious, aplomb, elan, fraught, flummox, befrocked, moll, molten and 605 more...
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Pleasing words
A list of miscellaneous words, fitting in no exact theme, that I happen to enjoy.
portmanteau, aesthetic, deviation, conglomerate, treachery, soluble, bildungsroman, soliloquy, irrevocable, effervescent, phrontistery, aeipathy and 180 more...
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cucchiaio's Words
ambidextrous, octogenarian, unanimous, semaphore, luminous, indigenous, epistemological, ravenous, receptacle, petrify, rectify, lepidopterologist and 104 more...
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Mod Mou's List
My Favourite words.
poignant, sauerkraut, requiem, nostalgia, pharmaceuticals, sweet nothings, chic, mod, rip, whisper, articulate, artistic and 24 more...
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april
some words
riverbed, saccades, arcuate, cloud, lights, flutter, electricity, spirals, leaves, sunshine, morendo, silent and 23 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for suffice.
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