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▪ I. adequate, a.|ˈædɪkwət|
Also 7 adæquat, adæquate.
[ad. L. adæquāt-us equalized, pa. pple. of adæquā-re: see next.]
Const. to (with obs.).
†1. Equal in magnitude or extent; commensurate; neither more nor less. Obs.
1628T. Spencer Logick 108 Those things are equall..which are adæquate in magnitude. 1662Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 140 He grew so tall in stature, that a hole was made for him in the ground, to stand therein up to the knees, so to make him adequate with his fellow-workmen. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 311 No finite Being can be an adequate Image of an infinite Being or Perfection. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 150 ⁋3 Acquisitions of man are not always adequate to the expectations.
2. a. Commensurate in fitness; equal or amounting to what is required; fully sufficient, suitable, or fitting.
a1617P. Bayne Ephes. (1658) 123 To justifye is not the sole adæquate or full act of it. c1685in Somers Tracts II. 444 They were at a stand for want of Words adequate to it. 1738Warburton Div. Legat. II. 148 Wit consists in using strong metaphoric Images in uncommon and adequate Allusions. 1771Junius Lett. lvii. 294 People..have no adequate idea of the endless variety of your character. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. iii. 389 A remedy which was far from adequate to the disease. 1860W. Collins Wom. in White ii. 275 Is language adequate to describe it? a1870Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life I. iv. 100 Mr. Herbert does me a very great honour in thinking me adequate to the Copenhagen subject.
b. Without const.: equal to the occasion, competent to deal with the situation.
1924A. D. Sedgwick Little French Girl ii. ix, Alix, in Maman's place, poured out their coffee, heavy-eyed, but still adequate.
c. In slightly derogatory sense: hardly sufficient or acceptable; barely reaching a minimum standard.
1900Beerbohm in Sat. Rev. 24 Feb. 234/1 It [the production of a play] was simply what the dramatic critics call ‘adequate’, meaning ‘inadequate’. 1958Times 12 Feb. 3/1 The standard rapidly sinks to a level which is, at best, adequate but at worst incompetent.
3. Logic. Fully answering to, or representing.
1690Locke Hum. Underst. ii. xxxi. (1695) 207 Those [Ideas] I call Adequate, which perfectly represent those Archetypes, which the Mind supposes them taken from; which it intends them to stand for. 1724Watts Logic i. vi. §5 (1822) 116 A definition must be universal, or as some call it, adequate; that is, it must agree to all the particular species or individuals that are included under the same idea. 1846Mill Logic i. viii. §3 (1868) 152 The only adequate definition of a name is..one which declares the facts.
▪ II. † ˈadequate, v. Obs.
Also 7 adæquate.
[f. L. adæquāt- ppl. stem of adæquā-re to make or become level or equal; f. ad to + æquāre, f. æqu-us level, equal.]
1. To equalize; to make equal or sufficient.
1622M. Fotherby Atheomastix II. ii. §7. 208 A truly intellectuall obiect, exactly adequated and proportioned vnto the intellectuall appetite. 1671True Non-Conformist 16 Adequating the guilt and punishment. 1691E. Taylor Behmen's Theos. Phil. 68 What adequated and priviledged him.
2. To equal, to be equal to, or sufficient for.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 29 Her sumptuous porches, and garnished buildings, are such, as no port-town in our British circumference..may suitably stake with, or adequate. 1635Shelford Disc. 227 Though it be an imposibilitie for any creature to adequate God in his eternitie. 1699Phil. Trans. XXI. 291 The Husk being..divided into Five Points, Adequating the Segments of each Flower. |