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insufficient

UK/ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt/US/ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt/
adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,074 of 15,258leans written

Insufficient means not enough for what is needed. Insufficient evidence, insufficient funds, insufficient time.

It is formal and belongs to findings and refusals: insufficient evidence to charge, insufficient funds — the phrase a bank uses when a payment fails. It is a statement about a requirement rather than about a quantity, so what is insufficient for one purpose may be plentiful for another. Note insufficiency; and sufficient, which does the same work in the positive direction.

Definitions of insufficient

  1. 1adjectiveinsufficientNot enough for what is needed.C1

    “The judge dismissed the case because of insufficient evidence.”

    synonyms: inadequate, lacking

insufficient is a quality of shortfall.

Where it comes from

Latin insufficiens is in- plus sufficiens, from sufficere, to supply — sub plus facere, to make. Suffice and sufficient come from the same supplying.

  1. Latin

    insufficiens

  2. Middle French

    insufficient

  3. English, today

    insufficient

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

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insufficient in the wild

  • The principle of indifference (also called principle of insufficient reason) is a rule for assigning epistemic probabilities.

    Principle of indifference

  • If there are funds in an account, but insufficient cleared funds, the cheque is normally endorsed "Present again", by which time the funds should have cleared.

    Dishonoured cheque

  • Although the other, standard allele still produces the standard amount of product, the total product is insufficient to produce the standard phenotype.

    Haploinsufficiency

  • The IUCN has insufficient data to assess the level of population and its trend.

    Hainan Island shrew

  • Several common misconceptions often lead mothers to believe they have insufficient milk when they are in fact producing enough.

    Low milk supply

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.