- able to fulfil a need or requirement without being abundant, outstanding, etc
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ad•e•quate /ˈædɪkwɪt/USA pronunciation
adj.
ad•e•quate•ly, adv.
ad•e•quate•ness, n. [uncountable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- as much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose:adequate rainfall for farming.
- barely sufficient:His work was adequate, nothing more.
ad•e•quate•ly, adv.
ad•e•quate•ness, n. [uncountable]
ad•e•quate
(ad′i kwit),USA pronunciation adj.
ad′e•quate•ly, adv.
ad′e•quate•ness, n.
- as much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose;
fully sufficient, suitable, or fit (often fol. 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.
- Lawreasonably sufficient for starting legal action:adequate grounds.
- Latin adaequātus matched (past participle of adaequāre). See ad-, equal, -ate1
- 1610–20
ad′e•quate•ness, n.
- 1. satisfactory, competent, sufficient, enough; capable.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
adequate /ˈædɪkwɪt/ adj
'adequate' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
accept
- acceptable
- all right
- ancient lights
- angina
- blind
- comfortable
- cost-effective
- dead letter
- decent
- deprived
- diversification
- due
- enable
- enough
- equal
- grand jury
- heart failure
- inadequate
- living wage
- malnutrition
- narrow
- optimum population
- pass
- passable
- perfuse
- poverty
- ration
- respiratory failure
- satisfactory
- social exclusion
- social inclusion
- solid
- sort
- sports car
- subsistence level
- suffice
- sufficiency
- sufficient
- tautology
- underact
- able
- abundant
- adequacy
- airway
- ample
- and/or
- biddable
- blush
- caprice