[syn: sufficiency, adequacy]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Sufficiency \Suf*fi"cien*cy\, n. [L. sufficientia: cf. F.
suffisance. See Suffice.]
1. The quality or state of being sufficient, or adequate to
the end proposed; adequacy.
[1913 Webster]
His sufficiency is such that he bestows and
possesses, his plenty being unexhausted. --Boyle.
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2. Qualification for any purpose; ability; capacity.
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A substitute or most allowed sufficiency. --Shak.
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I am not so confident of my own sufficiency as not
willingly to admit the counsel of others. --Eikon
Basilike.
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3. Adequate substance or means; competence. "An elegant
sufficiency." --Thomson.
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4. Supply equal to wants; ample stock or fund.
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5. Conceit; self-confidence; self-sufficiency.
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Sufficiency is a compound of vanity and ignorance.
--Sir W.
Temple.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sufficiency
n 1: sufficient resources to provide comfort and meet
obligations; "her father questioned the young suitor's
sufficiency"
2: an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to
achieve a purpose; "enough is as good as a feast"; "there is
more than a sufficiency of lawyers in this country" [syn:
enough, sufficiency]
3: the quality of being sufficient for the end in view; "he
questioned the sufficiency of human intelligence" [syn:
sufficiency, adequacy] [ant: deficiency, inadequacy,
insufficiency]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
37 Moby Thesaurus words for "sufficiency":
ability, ableness, acceptability, adequacy, adequateness,
admissibility, agreeability, caliber, capability, capableness,
capacity, competence, efficacy, efficiency, facility, faculty,
fairishness, fitness, flair, genius, goodishness, passableness,
proficiency, qualification, satisfactoriness, sufficient,
susceptibility, talent, tenability, the goods, the stuff,
tolerability, tolerableness, unexceptionability,
unobjectionability, viability, what it takes