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Definition of enoughnext
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enough

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adjective

enough

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noun

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective enough contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of enough are adequate, competent, and sufficient. While all these words mean "being what is necessary or desirable," enough is less exact in suggestion than sufficient.

do you have enough food?

When would adequate be a good substitute for enough?

Although the words adequate and enough have much in common, adequate may imply barely meeting a requirement.

the service was adequate

When is it sensible to use competent instead of enough?

The words competent and enough can be used in similar contexts, but competent suggests measuring up to all requirements without question or being adequately adapted to an end.

had no competent notion of what was going on

When is sufficient a more appropriate choice than enough?

The synonyms sufficient and enough are sometimes interchangeable, but sufficient suggests a close meeting of a need.

sufficient savings

How does the adjective enough contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of enough are adequate, competent, and sufficient. While all these words mean "being what is necessary or desirable," enough is less exact in suggestion than sufficient.

do you have enough food?

When would adequate be a good substitute for enough?

Although the words adequate and enough have much in common, adequate may imply barely meeting a requirement.

the service was adequate

When is it sensible to use competent instead of enough?

The words competent and enough can be used in similar contexts, but competent suggests measuring up to all requirements without question or being adequately adapted to an end.

had no competent notion of what was going on

When is sufficient a more appropriate choice than enough?

The synonyms sufficient and enough are sometimes interchangeable, but sufficient suggests a close meeting of a need.

sufficient savings

How does the adjective enough contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of enough are adequate, competent, and sufficient. While all these words mean "being what is necessary or desirable," enough is less exact in suggestion than sufficient.

do you have enough food?

When would adequate be a good substitute for enough?

Although the words adequate and enough have much in common, adequate may imply barely meeting a requirement.

the service was adequate

When is it sensible to use competent instead of enough?

The words competent and enough can be used in similar contexts, but competent suggests measuring up to all requirements without question or being adequately adapted to an end.

had no competent notion of what was going on

When is sufficient a more appropriate choice than enough?

The synonyms sufficient and enough are sometimes interchangeable, but sufficient suggests a close meeting of a need.

sufficient savings

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of enough
Adverb
For entertaining, consider this set with a sofa, two chairs, and a coffee table large enough for serving small dishes and drinks. Shea Simmons, Southern Living, 26 Apr. 2026 Your regular-season effort isn’t going to be good enough in the conference tournament. Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
Cats don’t always drink enough water, and dry foods can exacerbate this. Bestreviews, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2026 Caterers would have more than enough space to stage food while going in and out of the house. Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 27 Apr. 2026
Noun
In a letter to IDOT, the feds said the agency has failed to do enough to protect passengers and transit workers. Tara Molina, CBS News, 20 Apr. 2026 Apple privately threatened to remove Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence app, Grok, from its App Store in January after Musk’s xAI failed to do enough to stop it from creating nude or sexualized deepfakes, Apple told senators in a letter that was obtained by NBC News. David Ingram, NBC news, 14 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for enough
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enough
Adverb
  • This suggested the possibility of heating foods sufficiently to kill germs without significantly altering their chemical composition.
    Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2026
  • When the San Francisco Chronicle published its investigation, Swalwell’s campaign collapsed within 48 hours, indicating that the evidence was sufficiently substantial to immediately persuade political allies, campaign chairs, and fellow Democrats to withdraw their support.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
Adverb
  • So again, a pretty serious album there.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 29 Apr. 2026
  • That’s pretty great to know that your school has produced some pretty cool athletes like that.
    Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 29 Apr. 2026
Adverb
  • However, the day did not go quite according to plan for Dale Coyne Racing's Romain Grosjean, and that was all thanks to an unfortunate run-in — in the most literal sense imaginable — with a bird.
    Matt Reigle OutKick, FOXNews.com, 29 Apr. 2026
  • General Daily Insight for April 29, 2026 Tension shows up today when timing, tone, or expectations don’t quite match.
    Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
  • The plant, located in Hartsville, South Carolina, generates 759 megawatts of electricity, which is a capacity sufficient to power approximately 570,000 homes.
    Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Apr. 2026
  • The Meta-Amazon deal announced on Friday is the latest Big Tech tie-up as the industry scrambles to secure sufficient processors to power new and future AI models.
    Bloomberg, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • To issue an Amber Alert, law enforcement must determine that specific statutory conditions are met, including the age of the child, law enforcement’s belief in imminent danger of serious injury or death, and the sufficiency of existing information to assist in recovery.
    Itay Ravid, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2026
  • The sufficiency of disapproval to derail Trump’s primary immigration enforcement serves as further damning evidence against the companies and entities that so easily and so quickly capitulated to Trump last year.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
Adverb
  • But few states even try to adequately estimate the gap, according to Goodman.
    Keith M. Phaneuf, Hartford Courant, 26 Apr. 2026
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators also found the company did not adequately train its employees to recognize fall hazards and did not use a hazard communication program for employees using hazardous chemicals, the news release said.
    Angie DiMichele, Sun Sentinel, 25 Apr. 2026
Adverb
  • This realization, Parker begins to explain, is a relatively recent one.
    Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Meanwhile, Switzerland has a relatively weak fertility rate, with natural growth (births minus deaths) at around 6,000 in 2024.
    Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 30 Apr. 2026
Adverb
  • The Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, allowed two goals in the first period and never fully recovered in a 5-1 loss to the Henderson Silver Knights on Friday, as San Jose was swept in the best-of-three first-round series two games to none at Lee’s Family Forum.
    Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2026
  • Amodei cited the concern that Anthropic technology would be used for fully autonomous lethal weapons whose decisions were made without human involvement — and the potential for AI to be used for mass domestic surveillance on an unprecedented scale.
    U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Enough.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enough. Accessed 2 May. 2026.

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