sufficient

suh-FISH-uhnt/səˈfɪʃənt/

6 meanings of sufficient

1
adjective
Of a kind that satisfies requirements or needs; adequate for the purpose at hand.
The court found the evidence sufficient to proceed to trial.
A verbal agreement is sufficient in some cases, but a written contract is safer.
Similaradequate, satisfactory, ample
Oppositeinsufficient, inadequate, deficient
Note
Logic and mathematics lean on this sense. A sufficient condition guarantees a result, while a necessary condition is one the result cannot occur without. The two travel together in the set phrase necessary but not sufficient, and they are easy to swap by mistake. Oxygen is necessary for a fire but not sufficient, because fuel and heat are needed too.
2
determiner
An adequate quantity of something; as much as is needed for a purpose.
The shelter stocked sufficient blankets for a hundred people.
Without sufficient funding, the program will close by spring.
Similarenough
Oppositeinsufficient
3
determiner
A quantity of something that is as large as the situation requires.
The harvest yielded sufficient to feed the village through winter.
He saved sufficient over the years to retire early.
Similarenough
Note
Here the word stands alone and does the work of a noun: we already have sufficient. It can also take of before a group, as in sufficient of us are against this idea, where enough of us would do the same job. Unlike the version placed before a noun, nothing follows to say what there is enough of. The context has to supply it.
4
adjective
Possessing adequate ability, skill, or qualifications; competent or fit for a task or position.
The board considered him sufficient for the directorship, despite his limited experience.
A sufficient translator can handle idioms as well as plain prose.
Similarcompetent, capable, qualified, fit
Oppositeincompetent, unqualified, inadequate
Note
Applied to people rather than things, it describes a capacity, and it often follows feel. Nathanael Emmons wrote in 1842 that they felt sufficient to maintain their prosperity, and John MacArthur in 1983 that he had never felt sufficient. A to-infinitive or a for-phrase usually names the task. Without one, as in MacArthur, the word leans toward inner adequacy.

Less common meanings

5
adjectivearchaic
Capable of meeting whatever obligations one has taken on; responsible.
The widow's estate passed to a sufficient executor who paid every creditor in full.
No tradesman in the county was thought more sufficient than the old wheelwright.
Note
An early modern word for reliability: when Samuel Pepys's Diary of 1668 wants a sufficient man brought into an office, it means someone fit to carry its duties. In legal and commercial English, a sufficient surety was one whose means and character guaranteed a bond. Modern readers hear "adequate," so outside historical writing, responsible or reliable says it more clearly.
6
adjectiveobsolete
Able to afford a comfortable life while meeting one’s financial obligations.
The farm prospered, and within a decade the family was counted sufficient by their neighbors.
The second in the Hong, Mowgua, has been a man of large property, but he is of more questionable property now ; I consider him still to be a very sufficient merchant.
1830, Great Britain Parliament House of Commons, Select Committee on the East India Company
Note
Money is the whole point here. Bulstrode Whitelocke notes that people used to say of a rich man, he is a very sufficient man. A Commons select committee in 1830 still calls a merchant very sufficient. Its opposite appears in the State Trials of 1816, where a man shown insufficient could pay only a few thousand pounds. It sits close to the archaic sense of reliability. Today, say well-off or solvent.

Practice

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Origin

It comes from Old French "sufisanz" or "soficient," from Latin "sufficiēns," the present participle of "sufficiō."