Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Sufficient to satisfy a requirement or meet a need. synonym: sufficient.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Equal to requirement or occasion; commensurate; fully sufficient, suitable, or fit: as, means adequate to the object; an adequate comparison.
  • To make equal or adequate.
  • To attain equality with; equal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Equal to some requirement; proportionate, or correspondent; fully sufficient
  • transitive verb rare To equalize; to make adequate.
  • transitive verb obsolete To equal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Equal to some requirement; proportionate, or correspondent; fully sufficient; as, powers adequate to a great work; an adequate definition lawfully and physically sufficient.
  • verb obsolete To equalize; to make adequate.
  • verb obsolete To equal.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task
  • adjective sufficient for the purpose
  • adjective about average; acceptable

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin adaequātus, past participle of adaequāre, to equalize : ad-, ad- + aequāre, to make equal, from aequus, equal.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin adaequatus, past participle of adaequare ("to make equal to"); ad + aequare ("to make equal"), aequus ("equal").

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Examples

  • Though La Caixa already has 5,400 branches across Spain—more than any other bank—Mr. Nin would like to reach 6,000, which he describes as an "adequate number."

    Dealing With an Ailing Sector Christopher Bjork 2011

  • Fenty's plan was designed in part to address recent criticism from special education parents who have expressed alarm at District attempts to "reintegrate" private school students without what they describe as adequate advance notice or careful consideration of their needs.

    Fenty outlines plans to cut special-ed costs and return students to public schools 2010

  • Fenty's plan was designed in part to address recent criticism from special education parents who have expressed alarm at District attempts to 'reintegrate' private school students without what they describe as adequate advance notice or careful consideration of their needs. ...

    DeMorning DeBonis: July 2, 2010 2010

  • The government, meanwhile, said it put in place what it called adequate security measures for the protests, the state Herald newspaper reported Tuesday.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2003

  • CHANCE: Well, we've had some quotes coming through to us on the Russian Interfax news agency from a top security official here in Moscow, saying that they now are actively considering the possibility of using what they call adequate action to bring to an end this hostage crisis.

    CNN Transcript Oct 25, 2002 2002

  • “An adequate first attempt,” Madame Malisorf declared, stressing the word adequate.

    Butterfly V.C. Andrews 1998

  • “An adequate first attempt,” Madame Malisorf declared, stressing the word adequate.

    Butterfly V.C. Andrews 1998

  • So the key to "adequate" is how well are the kids learning.

    Sound Politics: "Ample provision" is a function of both funding and expenses 2007

  • Thus in articulating an interpretation, or set of interpretations of the term adequate to frame theoretical issues, we cannot simply describe how it is currently employed ” we must assign it a more definite and coherent meaning than extant in common usage (Block 1995, 2002).

    Consciousness and Intentionality Siewert, Charles 2006

  • But it is essential that these jobs are supplied in adequate numbers by the public sector if and when the private sector fails to do so.

    Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Women Want Jobs, Not Handouts Pavlina R. Tcherneva 2010

Comments

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  • "Memorize the dates that will provide you with an adequate framework for making connections." The Readers Handbook, Catherine Stephens, Ph.D, pg.328

    December 1, 2010