DictionaryAI

satisfy

verb
SAT-is-fy/ˈsætɪsfaɪ/

Formssatisfies, satisfying, satisfied

7 meanings of satisfy

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To meet the needs of someone, or to fulfill that person's wishes or requirements.

    No single policy will satisfy every voter in the district.

    The chef's new menu satisfied even the pickiest customers.

    Similarplease, content, gratify, suit, appease

    Oppositedisappoint, dissatisfy, displease

  2. 2
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To provide what is wanted or required for something, such as a need, condition, or demand.

    Applicants must satisfy three requirements before the deadline.

    A quick walk in the park satisfied her need for fresh air.

    Similarsupply

    Note

    Here the object is the need itself, not the person who feels it. You satisfy an appetite, a requirement, a condition. Supply is a near synonym but works from the other side: you supply what is lacking, and that satisfies the demand. When the object is a person, as in the people-pleasing sense, the verb is about their contentment. Here it is about whether the demand has been met.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To be sufficient; to be enough for a given purpose or person.

    When curiosity runs deep, simple answers rarely satisfy.

    A brief apology satisfied, and the matter was quietly dropped.

    Similarsuffice, serve, do

    Note

    The root sense, and the history spells it out: Latin satisfacere, from satis "enough" and facere "to make or do," so to satisfy is literally to make enough. Unusually for this verb, it can stand without an object, as in that explanation will never satisfy, where the hearer supplies who is left unconvinced. Milton gives it an object in Paradise Lost (1667), with Death forced to satisfy his ravenous maw.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To answer or discharge a claim, debt, or other legal demand, or to give due compensation.

    Proceeds from the auction will satisfy the outstanding judgment.

    The estate satisfied all creditors' claims before distributing the remainder.

    Similardischarge, settle, pay, meet

    Note

    In legal writing the usual objects are claims, judgments and executions, and satisfying one discharges it. Once a judgment has been satisfied, no further enforcement of that demand is possible. The legal sense also reaches past payment. Where the financial sense means paying in full, this one also covers compensation given to answer a claim.

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    To pay the full amount that is claimed or due.

    The firm must satisfy all outstanding invoices before the merger closes.

    He satisfied the loan two years ahead of schedule.

    Similarpay, settle, discharge, clear, repay

    Note

    In finance the object can be either the debt or the person owed. You satisfy a creditor just as readily as a loan or an invoice. The word stresses completeness: a satisfied debt is paid to the full extent claimed, with no balance left outstanding. A partial payment reduces a debt but does not satisfy it, and that difference is exactly what the word marks.

  6. 6
    verbtransitive
    In logic, to make a given sentence or formula come out true when it is interpreted in one's own universe of discourse.

    Any even number satisfies the formula's first condition.

    An assignment of values must satisfy every clause for the whole formula to be true.

    Similarfulfill, meet

    Note

    Logic turns the verb into a relation between a structure and a formula. The complex numbers satisfy ∃x: x²+1=0 because the formula comes out true when read in that universe. The subject can be a structure, an interpretation, or an assignment of values to variables. Model theorists write the relation M ⊨ φ, and it is the basic relation underlying Tarski's definition of truth.

Less common meaning

  1. 7
    verbdatedtransitive
    To convince someone of something by ascertaining the facts; to remove all doubt from their mind.

    She examined the ledger until she had satisfied herself that every entry was correct.

    I was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really dogging us or not, and with that intent crossed the way with Queequeg, and on that side of it retraced our steps.
    1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

    Similarconvince, assure, persuade, reassure

    Note

    Its living form is reflexive: to satisfy oneself whether, of, or that something is so. Melville's narrator in Moby-Dick (1851) resolves to satisfy himself whether the ragged Elijah is really dogging them. Outside the reflexive pattern the use now sounds dated and literary, though legal formulas such as the court must be satisfied that keep it in steady service.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English satisfyen, from Old French satisfiier (also satisfaire), from Latin satisfacere, itself made of satis ("enough, sufficient") and faciō ("I make, I do").