Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

adequate

/ˈæd.ə.kwɪt/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.05 in modern English

Syllables: ad-e-quate
IPA: /ˈæd.ə.kwɪt/

18

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Equal to or fulfilling some requirement.

det

A sufficient amount of; enough.

verb

To equalize; to make adequate.

Obsolete

verb

Obsolete

Example Sentences

"powers adequate to a great work"
"an adequate definition"
"Proportion therefore your Clothes to your bodies, and let them be proper for your persons. […] Agreeableness […] ought to be exact, and adequate both to age, person and condition, avoiding extremities on both sides, being neither too much out, nor in the fashions."
"Her legal allowance was not adequate to her fortune, nor sufficient for her comfortable maintenance […]"
"1853, Thomas De Quincey, Autobiographic Sketches in Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers, Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, “Dublin,” p. 254, […] in those days, Ireland had no adequate champion; the Hoods and the Grattans were not up to the mark."
"All day as I drove upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no explanation which appeared to me to be adequate."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Italic *aikʷos? Old Latin aiquos Latin aequus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin aequō Latin adaequō Latin adaequātuslbor. English adequate Learned borrowing from Latin adaequātus, perfect passive participle of adaequō (“to make equal to”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from ad (“to, towards, at”) + aequō (“to make equal, equalize”), from aequus (“equal”). Cognate with French adéquat. By surface analysis, ad- + equate.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈæd.ə.kwɪt/
British English: /ˈæd.ɪ.kwət/

Usage

Obsolete

Inflected Forms

more adequate (comparative) most adequate (superlative) adæquate (alternative, archaic) adequates (present, singular) adequating (participle, present) adequated (participle, past) adequated (past)

Derived Forms

adequately adequateness inadequate nonadequate subadequate superadequate unadequate

Phrases

adequate intake

Frequently Paired Words

adequacy adequation adequative

Synonyms

acceptable correspondent proportionate satisfactory sufficient equal passable fair to middling tolerable

Antonyms

inadequate

Rhymes With

inadequate

Questions

How do you pronounce adequate?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈæd.ə.kwɪt/.
What does adequate mean?: Equal to or fulfilling some requirement.
Where does adequate come from?: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Italic *aikʷos? Old Latin aiquos Latin aequus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin aequō Latin adaequō Latin adaequātuslbor. English adequate Learned borrowing from Latin adaequātus, perfect passive participle of adaequō (“to make equal to”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from ad (“to, towards, at”) + aequō (“to make equal, equalize”), from aequus (“equal”). Cognate with French adéquat. By surface analysis, ad- + equate.

How to pronounce adequate

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