What does "enough" mean?

1. (sufficient amount) as much as you need or want. 2. (to a sufficient degree) to the necessary degree or level. 3. (a sufficient number or amount) the amount or number that is needed. 4. (quite or very) used after an adjective to mean 'quite' or 'fairly'.

How do you use "enough"?

Placed before the noun it modifies. Placed after the adjective or adverb it modifies.

enough — meaning, definition & examples

Q: Is it correct to say "I don't have money enough for the ticket."?

No — say "I don't have enough money for the ticket.". When used with a noun, 'enough' usually comes before the noun.

Q: Is it correct to say "The water is enough warm for a bath."?

No — say "The water is warm enough for a bath.". When used with an adjective or adverb, 'enough' must come after the word it describes.

Word

01sufficient amount

A1 · Beginner

det. as much as you need or want.

det. functioning as a determiner to indicate a sufficient quantity of a noun.

“Do we have enough eggs to make a cake for the party?”

“The rescue team did not have enough supplies to remain on the mountain for another night, forcing them to retreat before the storm arrived.”

Usage

Placed before the noun it modifies.

Pitfall

I don't have money enough for the ticket.

I don't have enough money for the ticket.

When used with a noun, 'enough' usually comes before the noun.

Synonyms

sufficient adequate

Antonyms

insufficient inadequate

02to a sufficient degree

A1 · Beginner

adv. to the necessary degree or level.

adv. functioning as an adverb to indicate that a quality or action reaches a required threshold.

“Is the water warm enough for you, or should I add more hot water?”

“The candidate did not speak clearly enough for the audience at the back of the hall to hear the policy proposals.”

Usage

Placed after the adjective or adverb it modifies.

Pitfall

The water is enough warm for a bath.

The water is warm enough for a bath.

When used with an adjective or adverb, 'enough' must come after the word it describes.

Synonyms

sufficiently adequately

Antonyms

insufficiently

03a sufficient number or amount

A2 · Elementary

pron. the amount or number that is needed.

pron. functioning as a pronoun representing a sufficient quantity or number of something previously mentioned.

“I've had enough to eat, thank you; the meal was delicious.”

“While some critics argued for further investment, the board decided that enough had been spent on the project already.”

Synonyms

plenty sufficiency

Antonyms

dearth lack

04quite or very

B2 · Upper Intermediate

adv. used after an adjective to mean 'quite' or 'fairly'.

adv. used as a post-modifier to express a moderate or high degree of a quality, often with a pragmatic nuance of irony or emphasis.

“The instructions were simple enough, but I still managed to make a mistake.”

“The results were promising enough to justify a second round of clinical trials, though the researchers remained cautious about the long-term data.”

Synonyms

quite fairly rather

From Middle English ynogh, from Old English ġenōg (“enough”), from Proto-Germanic ganōgaz (“enough”) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Low German (ge)noog, Danish nok, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from ganuganą 'to suffice' (compare Old English ġeneah), or from ga- + an unattested nōgaz, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂eh₂nó(n)ḱe (“he has reached, attained”), perfective of h₂neḱ- (“to reach”) (compare Old Irish tánaic (“he arrived”), Latin nancisci (“to get”), Albanian kënaq (“to please, satisfy”).).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.