sufficiently
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to a degree that is enough for what you need.
to a sufficient extent or degree; adequately.
Simple“The oven must be sufficiently hot before you put the cake inside.”
In context“The legal team argued that the evidence was not sufficiently robust to justify a criminal conviction in this particular jurisdiction.”
UsageTypically placed before the adjective or participle it modifies.
PitfallThe room was enough large for us. The room was sufficiently large for us.While 'enough' usually follows the adjective, 'sufficiently' precedes it. Use 'sufficiently' for a more formal tone.
SynonymsAntonymsinsufficientlyinadequately
Usage sufficiently develop
“But by this point we’re sufficiently invested in Lena that we want to know how it turns out – which is basically the point.”
“When intelligent species are sufficiently advanced, maybe their goal isn’t colonising planets, but escaping physical existence altogether.”
From sufficient + -ly.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.