Insufficient

//ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt// adj, det

adj, det ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not sufficient; of a type or kind that does not suffice, that does not satisfy requirements or needs.

    "an insufficient amount"

  2. 2
    Not sufficient; lacking competent power or ability; unqualified, unequal, unfit.

    "Brother Coſroe, I find my ſelfe agreeu’d, Yet inſufficient to expreſſe the ſame: For it requires a great and thundering ſpeech: […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement wordnet
Determiner
  1. 1
    An inadequate quantity of; not enough.

    "Insufficient time is available to reflect on the problem."

  2. 2
    A quantity (of something) that is less than is needed.

    "Insufficient of the building remains to determine its age."

Synonyms

All synonyms
inadequateshythreadbareunsufficientasymmetricasymmetrical

Example

More examples

"The width of the road is insufficient for safe driving."

Etymology

From Middle French insufficient, from Latin insufficiens. See also in- + sufficient.

Related phrases

principle of insufficient reason

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.