Definitions

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

  • verb social sciences, of human behavior, intransitive To make a choice that suffices to fulfill the minimum requirements to achieve an objective, without special regard for utility maximization or optimization of one's preferences.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To satisfy.

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

  • verb decide on and pursue a course of action satisfying the minimum requirements to achieve a goal

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1560, Northern alteration of satisfy, probably influenced in form by Latin satisfacere.

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Examples

  • The debate over whether librarians should be complicit in students' efforts to "satisfice" -- that is, do what they can to get by and graduate -- can be a contentious one, since it runs to the root of what the library and higher education in general is for."

    Study: College students rarely use librarians' expertise 2011

  • It tells readers to set standards and look for "good enough," rather than holding out for the very best conceivable choice: to "satisfice," in the jargon of social scientists, rather than "maximize."

    Reason Magazine - Hit & Run 2009

  • If these students are trying to "satisfice," it probably isn't so that they'll have more time to goof off, she said.

    Study: College students rarely use librarians' expertise 2011

  • Thill says she does not think "satisfice" should be a dirty word.

    Study: College students rarely use librarians' expertise 2011

  • To satisfice is "to decide on and pursue a course of action that will satisfy the minimum requirements necessary to achieve a particular goal" OED.

    January 2008 2008

  • To satisfice is "to decide on and pursue a course of action that will satisfy the minimum requirements necessary to achieve a particular goal" OED.

    How to Choose a Sewing Machine - A Dress A Day 2008

  • Dynamic Tension eliminates the tendency to satisfice by making it impossible to succeed without thinking differently.

    The Elegant Solution Matthew E. May 2007

  • There is always some foot-dragging in order to satisfice sufficient numbers of the laggards to justify a game from a business perspective.

    March 2005 2005

  • There is always some foot-dragging in order to satisfice sufficient numbers of the laggards to justify a game from a business perspective.

    Part Of My (Virtual) World 2005

  • Saunders and Tuggle commented in the same vein that a lack of stringent competition allows managers to “satisfice at a more comfortable level” instead of having to optimize, as planning supposedly does 1977:21.

    The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning HENRY MINTZBERG 1994

Comments

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  • Discovered Herbert Simon's "satisfice" term for "good enough" info. Yikes! I'm just 50 yrs behind the times!

    David Weinberger, twitter

    October 18, 2007

  • Haha!

    October 18, 2007

  • Combination of satisfy and suffice. Apparently coined by Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon in his 1957 book called Models of Man.

    July 21, 2010

  • When asked if the hairdo is nice

    Know truth can exact a high price.

    Dispense with your honor

    And heap praise upon her

    For timorous lies won't satisfice.

    May 19, 2016