Definitions

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

  • adjective Sufficient to meet a need or satisfy a desire; adequate: synonym: sufficient.
  • pronoun An adequate number or quantity.
  • adverb To a satisfactory amount or degree; sufficiently.
  • adverb Very; fully; quite.
  • adverb Tolerably; rather.
  • interjection Used to express impatience or exasperation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An elliptical exclamation, signifying ‘it (or that) is enough,’ ‘I have had enough,’ ‘you have done enough,’ etc.
  • Answering the purpose; adequate to want or demand; sufficient; satisfying desire; giving content; meeting reasonable expectation.
  • Synonyms Sufficient, Competent, etc. See adequate.
  • noun A quantity of a thing or act, or a number of things or persons, sufficient to satisfy desire or want, or adequate to a purpose; sufficiency: as, we have enough of this sort of cloth.
  • noun Synonyms Plenty, abundance.
  • In a quantity or degree that answers the purpose, satisfies, or is equal to the desires or wants; to a sufficient degree; sufficiently.
  • To a notable extent; fairly; rather: used to denote a slight augmentation of the positive degree, the force depending upon the connection or the emphasis: as, he is ready enough to embrace the offer.
  • In a tolerable or passable degree: used to denote diminution, or a degree or quality rather less than is desired, or such a quantity or degree as commands acquiescence rather than full satisfaction: as, the performance is well enough.
  • To a great degree; very much.

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

  • interjection An exclamation denoting sufficiency, being a shortened form of it is enough.
  • adjective Satisfying desire; giving content; adequate to meet the want; sufficient; -- usually, and more elegantly, following the noun to which it belongs.
  • adverb In a degree or quantity that satisfies; to satisfaction; sufficiently.
  • adverb Fully; quite; -- used to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.
  • adverb In a tolerable degree; -- used to express mere acceptableness or acquiescence, and implying a degree or quantity rather less than is desired.
  • noun A sufficiency; a quantity which satisfies desire, is adequate to the want, or is equal to the power or ability.

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

  • determiner sufficient; all that is required, needed, or appropriate
  • adverb sufficiently
  • pronoun A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.
  • interjection stop! Don't do that anymore, etc.

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

  • adverb as much as necessary
  • adjective sufficient for the purpose
  • noun an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to achieve a purpose

Etymologies

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

[Middle English enogh, from Old English genōg; see nek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ynough, from Old English ġenōg ("enough"), from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz (“enough”) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from *ǥanaxa 'to suffice' (compare Old English ġeneah), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂nó(n)ḱe 'he has reached, attained', perfective of *h₂neḱ- 'to reach' (compare Old Irish tánaic 'he arrived', Latin nancisci 'to get', Lithuanian nèšti 'to carry', Albanian kënaq 'to please, statisfy', Ancient Greek ἐνεγκεῖν (enenkein, "to carry").).

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Examples

  • \ "The marchers were chanting \" enough, enough\ "and \" We the People.

    Marshall Auerback: Why Government Spending Is the Solution, Not the Problem 2009

  • \ "The marchers were chanting \" enough, enough\ "and \" We the People.

    Marshall Auerback: Why Government Spending Is the Solution, Not the Problem 2009

  • Not chocolatey enough if I am craving chocolate, and not *enough* if I want a crispy snack.

    Member Appreciation Reviews BunnyKissd 2008

  • True, one cold war was enough ... however that doesn\'t mean irrespective of the actions taken by Bush-administration, the world would never say \'One Bush-administration was (is) enough\ '.'

    When to say 'One Bush-Administration Was (Is) Enough'? 2007

  • It is evident enough that all questions between North and South must settle themselves, should the war only _go far enough_.

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy Various

  • Well, little Clara kissed my hand when she had eaten enough -- (it was so odd for _Clara_ to have _enough_) -- and her sunken eyes grew bright, and she said -- "Now I shall not be beaten, because I've something left to carry home;" so she told me where she lived, and I bade her good bye, and told her I would come and see her mother to-morrow.

    Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends Fanny Fern

  • And the Master's answer would come in that clear, quiet voice of His, "yes, tarry: you have knowledge enough, but _knowledge is not enough_, there must be power."

    Quiet Talks on Power S.D. Gordon

  • ” He confessed to Lord William that the world was not big enough for him, that there was “no king or country big enough”; and then he added, hitting him on the shoulder, “Yes, that is flesh, that is what I hate, and what makes me wish to die.

    The End of General Gordon: Paras. 1-30 1918

  • And that is why our scriptures and other art-works, when they deal with love, turn from honest attempts at science in physics to romantic nonsense, erotic ecstasy, or the stern asceticism of satiety (“the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom” said William Blake; for “you never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough”).

    Epistle Dedicatory 1903

  • Time enough, always proves little enough_: Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the Purpose; so by Diligence shall we do more with less Perplexity.

    Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1748

Comments

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  • "But this is not enough" (Tolke eta va mala) (Arseniy Tarkovsky)

    or

    "I had enough" (Ich habe genug) (Johann Sebastian bach)

    January 7, 2007

  • "Enough is equal to a feast." - Henry Fielding, The Covent Garden Tragedy

    January 4, 2009

  • enough love this word so much I had it tattooed on my wrist!

    July 17, 2015

  • Wordnik allows you to adopt words you love. Why not adopt "enough"?

    July 17, 2015

  • Nice suggestion vm, but I just can't seem to get enough.

    July 18, 2015