sufficiency
noun
suf·fi·cien·cy sə-ˈfi-shən(t)-sē 
plural sufficiencies
1
: sufficient means to meet one's needs : competency
also : a modest but adequate scale of living
2
: the quality or state of being sufficient : adequacy
Synonyms
- acceptability
- adequacy
- satisfactoriness
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
the sufficiency of the portions is such that you will leave the restaurant with a full stomach but without doggie bags
Recent Examples on the Web Thatcher learned the values of thrift, self-sufficiency and living within ones means at the knee of her father, a grocer and alderman. 
Rosa Prince, CNN, 5 Sep. 2022 But deep down the leaders of these businesses know that China’s relentless drive toward self-sufficiency is likely to someday harm them. Ram Charan, Fortune, 31 May 2022 In practice, what self-sufficiency has meant for China, the world’s biggest trading nation, is finding alternatives to imports or creating dependable supply lines. James T. Areddy, WSJ, 3 May 2022 The key to restoring US self-sufficiency and global leadership in semiconductor and circuit board production lies in publicly addressing the impediments to rational private investment enumerated above. Robert Hockett, Forbes, 14 Nov. 2021 Cypress brings a steely professionalism to aspiring politician Taissa, while Lynskey is typically excellent as Shauna, an unhappy housewife masking a fierce self-sufficiency under a self-effacing demeanor. Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 5 Nov. 2021 That self-sufficiency should insulate us from the worst of the energy turbulence around the world, at least for a while — though inflation, already running high, could still end up dampening the economy more broadly. Damon Linker, The Week, 6 Oct. 2021 Food security and self-sufficiency have long been high on the agenda of Chinese policy makers. Jacky Wong, WSJ, 8 Mar. 2022 Their dilemma reflects the precarious situation of families in rural Donetsk who cling to self-sufficiency even as war threatens to sweep over them. Erika Solomon, BostonGlobe.com, 31 July 2022 See More
Rosa Prince, CNN, 5 Sep. 2022 But deep down the leaders of these businesses know that China’s relentless drive toward self-sufficiency is likely to someday harm them. Ram Charan, Fortune, 31 May 2022 In practice, what self-sufficiency has meant for China, the world’s biggest trading nation, is finding alternatives to imports or creating dependable supply lines. James T. Areddy, WSJ, 3 May 2022 The key to restoring US self-sufficiency and global leadership in semiconductor and circuit board production lies in publicly addressing the impediments to rational private investment enumerated above. Robert Hockett, Forbes, 14 Nov. 2021 Cypress brings a steely professionalism to aspiring politician Taissa, while Lynskey is typically excellent as Shauna, an unhappy housewife masking a fierce self-sufficiency under a self-effacing demeanor. Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 5 Nov. 2021 That self-sufficiency should insulate us from the worst of the energy turbulence around the world, at least for a while — though inflation, already running high, could still end up dampening the economy more broadly. Damon Linker, The Week, 6 Oct. 2021 Food security and self-sufficiency have long been high on the agenda of Chinese policy makers. Jacky Wong, WSJ, 8 Mar. 2022 Their dilemma reflects the precarious situation of families in rural Donetsk who cling to self-sufficiency even as war threatens to sweep over them. Erika Solomon, BostonGlobe.com, 31 July 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
earlier sufficience in same sense (going back to Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Late Latin sufficientia, from Latin sufficient-, sufficiens sufficient + -ia -ia entry 1) + -ency
First Known Use
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing sufficiency
Legal Definition
sufficiency
noun
suf·fi·cien·cy
: the quality or state of being sufficient
the sufficiency of the evidence to convict
sufficiency
noun
as in adequacy
the quality or state of meeting one's needs adequately the sufficiency of the portions is such that you will leave the restaurant with a full stomach but without doggie bags Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- adequacy
- acceptability
- goodness
- amplitude
- satisfactoriness
- appropriateness
- suitability
- tolerability
- fitness
- suitableness
- surplus
- bountifulness
- copiousness
- overabundance
- seemliness
- abundance
- correctness
- properness
- surfeit
- opulence
- oversupply
- rightness
- excess
- plentifulness
- plenteousness
- plenitude
- plenty
- plentitude
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- insufficiency
- inadequacy
- lack
- lack
- shortage
- deficit
- inadequateness
- famine
- scarcity
- want
- dearth
- necessity
- poverty
- paucity
- unsatisfactoriness
- crunch
- need
- rarity
- meagerness
- privation
- scantiness
- scarceness
- poorness
- rareness
- skimpiness
- scantness