suffice

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English[edit]

WOTD – 16 October 2008

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English suffisen, from Middle French souffire, from Latin sufficiō (“supply, be adequate”), from sub (“under”) + faciō (“do, make”). Cognate with French suffire.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /səˈfaɪs/
  • (obsolete) IPA(key): /səˈfaɪz/[1]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪs

Verb[edit]

suffice (third-person singular simple present suffices, present participle sufficing, simple past and past participle sufficed)

  1. (intransitive) To be enough or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be adequate; to be good enough.
    For this plum cake, two eggs should suffice.
  2. (transitive) To satisfy; to content; to be equal to the wants or demands of.
    A joint of lamb sufficed even his enormous appetite.
    • 1838, The Church of England quarterly review, page 203:
      Lord Brougham's salary would have sufficed more than ninety Prussian judges.
  3. To furnish; to supply adequately.
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes[edit]

  • Commonly used in the phrases suffice to say or suffice it to say.
  • Mostly used in modal verb constructions, such as: Half a loaf per day will/should suffice. This is much more common than the direct form Half a loaf per day suffices.

Synonyms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Meredith, L. P. (1872) “Suffice”, in Every-Day Errors of Speech‎[1], Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott & Co., page 43.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

suffice

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of sufficiō
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